The Experts below are selected from a list of 147267 Experts worldwide ranked by ideXlab platform
Randall W. Myster - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Plant Communities of Western Amazonia
The Botanical Review, 2009Co-Authors: Randall W. MysterAbstract:En esta revisión que enfoco en la cuenca del Amazonas socialmente y ecológicamente importante occidental y se ha asociado las comunidades de Planta. Delineo esta área vasta como entre los Andes y la confluencia del Amazonas y su primer río mayor de negro-agua, el Negro de Rio. Aunque científicos hayan explorado aquí durante años, nosotros tenemos todavía—desgraciadamente—sólo un comprensión muy básico de su estructura. Esta revisión es motivada por esa falta del conocimiento, y las tentativas para agregar un nivel de la organización a lo que sabemos. Hago que por darse cuenta de primero que esas comunidades de Planta aquí deben ser diferenciadas fundamentalmente por el grado de la inundación ellos experimentan, la clase de agua implicada, y si esa inundación ocurre con regularidad o no. Dentro de ese contexto, aún más comunidades de Planta entonces fueron definidas. Encontré que la diversidad de comunidades, no apenas las Plantas sí mismos, son grande y probable de crecer substancial como probamos cada vez mas, eso es el pico de la curva de comunidad-área tiene todavía no fue alcanzado. Cierro con algunas preguntas básicas y también algunas ideas de mi propio análisis de Neotropic campos viejos en cómo nosotros quizás definamos las comunidades cuantitativamente, así como una llamada para más financiación de investigación In this review I focus on the socially and ecologically important western Amazon basin and its associated Plant Communities. I delineate this vast area as between the Andes to the west and the confluence of the Amazon and its first major black-water river, the Rio Negro, to the east. Although scientists have explored here, and local people have lived here for years, we still have—unfortunately—only a most basic understanding of its Plant Communities. This review is motivated by that lack of knowledge, and attempts both to add a level of organization to what we do know and to suggest future avenues of research. I do this by first realizing that Plant Communities here must be fundamentally differentiated by the degree of flooding they experience, the kind of water involved, and how regularly that flooding occurs. Within that context, Plant Communities can then be further defined by such characteristics as soil type, micro-topological relief, and human-induced disturbance regime. After completing the review, I suggest that the diversity of Plant Communities, not just the Plants themselves, is large and likely to grow substantially as we sample more and more, that is to say the peak of the Plant community-sampling area curve has not yet been reached. I close with basic questions to help guide future efforts, ideas on how Plant Communities could be defined quantitatively, and a call for more research funding of the Western Amazon.
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Plant Communities of Western Amazonia
The Botanical Review, 2009Co-Authors: Randall W. MysterAbstract:In this review I focus on the socially and ecologically important western Amazon basin and its associated Plant Communities. I delineate this vast area as between the Andes to the west and the confluence of the Amazon and its first major black-water river, the Rio Negro, to the east. Although scientists have explored here, and local people have lived here for years, we still have—unfortunately—only a most basic understanding of its Plant Communities. This review is motivated by that lack of knowledge, and attempts both to add a level of organization to what we do know and to suggest future avenues of research. I do this by first realizing that Plant Communities here must be fundamentally differentiated by the degree of flooding they experience, the kind of water involved, and how regularly that flooding occurs. Within that context, Plant Communities can then be further defined by such characteristics as soil type, micro-topological relief, and human-induced disturbance regime. After completing the review, I suggest that the diversity of Plant Communities, not just the Plants themselves, is large and likely to grow substantially as we sample more and more, that is to say the peak of the Plant community-sampling area curve has not yet been reached. I close with basic questions to help guide future efforts, ideas on how Plant Communities could be defined quantitatively, and a call for more research funding of the Western Amazon.
Ashley D Sparrow - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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resprouting as a life history strategy in woody Plant Communities
Oikos, 2000Co-Authors: Peter J Bellingham, Ashley D SparrowAbstract:Resprouting is an efficient means by which woody Plants regain biomass lost during disturbance, but there is a life history trade-off that occurs in all disturbance regimes between investment in the current generation through resprouting vs investment in future generations at the same or more distant sites. The relative allocation to resprouting vs seeding in woody Plant Communities is dictated by the nature of disturbance regimes. Resprouting is the predominant response to the least severe disturbance regimes, but is also a common response in disturbance regimes of high severity, those that destroy most or all above-ground biomass, and which occur at medium to high frequency. The response to disturbance either by resprouting or seeding is dictated by the site's productivity. We present a comprehensive model for relative allocation to resprouting vs seeding across a range of disturbance regimes. Competition between Plants that mostly seed vs those that mostly resprout should accentuate differences in allocation along a gradient of disturbance frequency. However the patchy nature of disturbance in time and space, coupled with gene flow among populations undergoing different disturbance regimes, ensures that it is unlikely that either resprouting or seeding will be the sole response in most Plant Communities at most disturbance frequencies. Additional influences on resprouting in woody Plant Communities include changes in allocation during the lifespan of individual Plants and phylogenetic constraints that are expressed as biogeographic patterns.
R. M. Callaway - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Linking patterns and processes in alpine Plant Communities: A global study
Ecology, 2005Co-Authors: Z. Kikvidze, F. I. Pugnaire, R. W. Brooker, P. Choler, C. J. Lortie, R. Michalet, R. M. CallawayAbstract:Predictable relationships among patterns, processes, and properties of Plant Communities are crucial for developing meaningful conceptual models in community ecology. We studied such relationships in 18 Plant Communities spread throughout nine Northern Hemisphere high-mountain subalpine and alpine meadow systems and found linear and curvilinear correlative links among temperature, precipitation, productivity, Plant interactions, spatial pattern, and richness. We found that sites with comparatively mild climates have greater Plant biomass, and at these sites strong competition corresponds with overdispersed distribution of Plants, reducing intraspecific patchiness and in turn increasing local richness. Sites with cold climates have little biomass, and at these sites a high proportion of species benefit from strong facilitative effects of neighbors, leading to an aggregated distribution of Plants. Sites with intermediate, or relatively moderate climates are intermediate in biomass, and at these sites interactions are weak (or competition may be counterbalanced by facilitation), corresponding with a nearly random distribution of Plants. At these sites species richness is lower than average. We propose that the relationship between interspecific spatial pattern and community richness reflects niche differentiation and/or construction, which allows for the coexistence of more species than would be possible with random, unstructured spatial distributions. Discovering the mechanisms that drive the relationships described here would further link functional and structural components of Plant Communities and enhance the predictive capability of community ecology.
Peter J Bellingham - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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resprouting as a life history strategy in woody Plant Communities
Oikos, 2000Co-Authors: Peter J Bellingham, Ashley D SparrowAbstract:Resprouting is an efficient means by which woody Plants regain biomass lost during disturbance, but there is a life history trade-off that occurs in all disturbance regimes between investment in the current generation through resprouting vs investment in future generations at the same or more distant sites. The relative allocation to resprouting vs seeding in woody Plant Communities is dictated by the nature of disturbance regimes. Resprouting is the predominant response to the least severe disturbance regimes, but is also a common response in disturbance regimes of high severity, those that destroy most or all above-ground biomass, and which occur at medium to high frequency. The response to disturbance either by resprouting or seeding is dictated by the site's productivity. We present a comprehensive model for relative allocation to resprouting vs seeding across a range of disturbance regimes. Competition between Plants that mostly seed vs those that mostly resprout should accentuate differences in allocation along a gradient of disturbance frequency. However the patchy nature of disturbance in time and space, coupled with gene flow among populations undergoing different disturbance regimes, ensures that it is unlikely that either resprouting or seeding will be the sole response in most Plant Communities at most disturbance frequencies. Additional influences on resprouting in woody Plant Communities include changes in allocation during the lifespan of individual Plants and phylogenetic constraints that are expressed as biogeographic patterns.
Z. Kikvidze - One of the best experts on this subject based on the ideXlab platform.
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Linking patterns and processes in alpine Plant Communities: A global study
Ecology, 2005Co-Authors: Z. Kikvidze, F. I. Pugnaire, R. W. Brooker, P. Choler, C. J. Lortie, R. Michalet, R. M. CallawayAbstract:Predictable relationships among patterns, processes, and properties of Plant Communities are crucial for developing meaningful conceptual models in community ecology. We studied such relationships in 18 Plant Communities spread throughout nine Northern Hemisphere high-mountain subalpine and alpine meadow systems and found linear and curvilinear correlative links among temperature, precipitation, productivity, Plant interactions, spatial pattern, and richness. We found that sites with comparatively mild climates have greater Plant biomass, and at these sites strong competition corresponds with overdispersed distribution of Plants, reducing intraspecific patchiness and in turn increasing local richness. Sites with cold climates have little biomass, and at these sites a high proportion of species benefit from strong facilitative effects of neighbors, leading to an aggregated distribution of Plants. Sites with intermediate, or relatively moderate climates are intermediate in biomass, and at these sites interactions are weak (or competition may be counterbalanced by facilitation), corresponding with a nearly random distribution of Plants. At these sites species richness is lower than average. We propose that the relationship between interspecific spatial pattern and community richness reflects niche differentiation and/or construction, which allows for the coexistence of more species than would be possible with random, unstructured spatial distributions. Discovering the mechanisms that drive the relationships described here would further link functional and structural components of Plant Communities and enhance the predictive capability of community ecology.
