Plant Physiological Ecology

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xix

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2. Principles of instrumentation for physiological ecology

   • Arnold J. Bloom

   Pages 1-13

3. Field data acquisition

   • Robert W. Pearcy

   Pages 15-27

4. Water in the environment

   • Philip W. Rundel, Wesley M. Jarrell

   Pages 29-56

5. Measurement of wind speed near vegetation

   • John Grace

   Pages 57-73

6. Soil nutrient availability

   • Dan Binkley, Peter Vitousek

   Pages 75-96

7. Radiation and light measurements

   • Robert W. Pearcy

   Pages 97-116

8. Temperature and energy budgets

   • James R. Ehleringer

   Pages 117-135

9. Measurement of transpiration and leaf conductance

   • Robert W. Pearcy, E.-Detlef Schulze, Reiner Zimmermann

   Pages 137-160

10. Plant water status, hydraulic resistance and capacitance

    • Roger T. Koide, Robert H. Robichaux, Suzanne R. Morse, Celia M. Smith

    Pages 161-183

11. Approaches to studying nutrient uptake, use and loss in plants

    • F. Stuart Chapin III, Keith Van Cleve

    Pages 185-207

12. Photosynthesis: principles and field techniques

    • Christopher B. Field, J. Timothy Ball, Joseph A. Berry

    Pages 209-253

13. Crassulacean acid metabolism

    • C. Barry Osmond, William W. Adams III, Stanley D. Smith

    Pages 255-280

14. Stable isotopes

    • James R. Ehleringer, C. Barry Osmond

    Pages 281-300

15. Canopy structure

    • John M. Norman, Gaylon S. Campbell

    Pages 301-325

16. Growth, carbon allocation and cost of plant tissues

    • Nona R. Chiariello, Harold A. Mooney, Kimberlyn Williams

    Pages 327-365

17. Root systems

    • Martyn M. Caldwell, Ross A. Virginia

    Pages 367-398

18. Field methods used for air pollution research with plants

    • William E. Winner, Carol S. Greitner

    Pages 399-425

19. Back Matter

    Pages 427-457

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Physiological plant ecology is primarily concerned with the function and performance of plants in their environment. Within this broad focus, attempts are made on one hand to understand the underlying physiological, biochemical and molecular attributes of plants with respect to performance under the constraints imposed by the environment. On the other hand physiological ecology is also concerned with a more synthetic view which attempts to under­ stand the distribution and success of plants measured in terms of the factors that promote long-term survival and reproduction in the environment. These concerns are not mutually exclusive but rather represent a continuum of research approaches. Osmond et al. (1980) have elegantly pointed this out in a space-time scale showing that the concerns of physiological ecology range from biochemical and organelle-scale events with time constants of a second or minutes to succession and evolutionary-scale events involving communities and ecosystems and thousands, if not millions, of years. The focus of physiological ecology is typically at the single leaf or root system level extending up to the whole plant. The time scale is on the order of minutes to a year. The activities of individual physiological ecologists extend in one direction or the other, but few if any are directly concerned with the whole space-time scale. In their work, however, they must be cognizant both of the underlying mechanisms as well as the consequences to ecological and evolutionary processes.

• Phosphor
• Transpiration
• Vegetation
• Wind
• classification
• metabolism
• nitrogen
• physiology
• roots
• temperature

• Department of Botany, University of California, Davis, USA

  Robert W. Pearcy

• Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA

  James R. Ehleringer

• Department of Biological Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, USA

  Harold A. Mooney

• Laboratory of Biomedical and Environmental Sciences and Department of Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, USA

  Philip W. Rundel

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