Plant Architecture and Resource Competition
Document Type
Article
Journal/Book Title/Conference
Potentials and limitations of ecosystem analysis Springer, Berlin
Publication Date
1987
Abstract
The character of an ecosystem is determined in part by the balance of competition among higher plant species. In most habitats, the physical environment is conducive to the growth and survival of more species than actually persist and compete at a particular site. Competition is, thus, often a sorting proeess that determines which plant species occupy a site. The higher plant species composition in turn has a large bearing on species membership in other trophic levels. Although the importance of competition among higher plants is well appreciated and the subject of much study, relatively little progress has been made toward an understanding of how plants compete with one another for resources, and which traits are of particular advantage in this comptetion.
First Page
164
Last Page
179
Recommended Citation
Caldwell, M. M. 1987. Plant Architecture and Resource Competition. 164-179.