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Some Growth Points in Investigative Plant Ecology

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Trends in Ecological Research for the 1980s

Part of the book series: NATO Conference Series ((E,volume 7))

Abstract

There are abundant opportunities for progress in the following fields: (1) maintenance of species richness, particularly in characterizing the factors which chiefly control the population sizes of co-existing species and in determining the extent to which sparse species in any given community have an appreciable impact on each other; (2) the relative importance of shoot and root. mediated interference between plants, and the involvement of various mechanisms of root mediated interference, in the control of relative abundance and primary and secondary dominance and in the exclusion of species from particular communities; and (3) leaf form and function, particularly in understanding the evolution of maximum rates of net assimilation in different kinds of plants and of various structural characteristics possibly related to intra-leaf hydraulic conductance. In general, much more long term research is needed in all aspects of ecology. Plant ecologists still have a great deal to learn from animal ecologists, and more should be done to make the two groups aware of each other’s ideas.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Botany School, Downing Street, Cambridge, CB2 3EA, England

    Peter J. Grubb

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  1. Peter J. Grubb
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  1. International Association for Ecology (INTECOL) Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia, USA

    June H. Cooley  & Frank B. Golley  & 

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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York

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Grubb, P.J. (1984). Some Growth Points in Investigative Plant Ecology. In: Cooley, J.H., Golley, F.B. (eds) Trends in Ecological Research for the 1980s. NATO Conference Series, vol 7. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4898-6_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4898-6_5

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