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Patterns and Causes of Arctic Plant Community Diversity

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Arctic and Alpine Biodiversity: Patterns, Causes and Ecosystem Consequences

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 113))

Abstract

Attempts to explain and quantify community diversity have been a major paradigm in the development of modern ecology (e.g. Pielou 1975; MacArthur 1960; Whittaker 1965). Questions of the functional significance of diversity, and indeed whether species diversity alone has any functional significance, are also abundant (e.g. Hurlbert 1971; May 1973; Schulze and Mooney 1993). The taxonomic and genetic diversity within a community, the diversity among communities, and the diversity of communities on a landscape all contribute to regional diversity and are all aspects of community diversity. Genetic and species diversity are the building blocks of communities, and define the set of potential plant communities for a given region, but the plant communities into which these taxonomic and genetic units are organized are the most direct and easily measurable indication of overall ecosystem diversity, becuase they represent the integration of species and landscape. Understanding how the diversity of communities may change following a directional change in climate requires an understanding of the processes that control diversity at different levels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joint Facility for Regional Ecosystem Analysis, Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research, University of Colorado, 80309-0450, Boulder, CO, USA

    M. D. Walker

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  1. M. D. Walker
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Integrative Biology, University of California, 94720-3140, Berkeley, CA, USA

    F. Stuart Chapin III

  2. Department of Botany, University of Basel, Schönbeinstraße 6, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Christian Körner

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© 1995 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Walker, M.D. (1995). Patterns and Causes of Arctic Plant Community Diversity. In: Chapin, F.S., Körner, C. (eds) Arctic and Alpine Biodiversity: Patterns, Causes and Ecosystem Consequences. Ecological Studies, vol 113. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78966-3_1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78966-3_1

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78968-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78966-3

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