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Plant Architecture and Resource Competition

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Book cover Potentials and Limitations of Ecosystem Analysis

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 61))

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 comptition.

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Authors
  1. M. M. Caldwell
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenökologie, Universität Bayreuth, Postfach 101251, D-8580, Bayreuth, Germany

    Ernst-Detlef Schulze

  2. Lehrstuhl für Tierökologie, Universität Bayreuth, Postfach 101251, D-8580, Bayreuth, Germany

    Helmut Zwölfer

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© 1987 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Caldwell, M.M. (1987). Plant Architecture and Resource Competition. In: Schulze, ED., Zwölfer, H. (eds) Potentials and Limitations of Ecosystem Analysis. Ecological Studies, vol 61. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71630-0_8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-71630-0_8

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-71632-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-71630-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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