3 research outputs found
Scotland's role in the European Union: expectations of multi-level governance among political elites - an actor-centred approach
On the relationships between size and abundance in plants: beyond forest communities
The inverse relationship between size and abundance is a wellâdocumented pattern in forests, and the form of sizeâdensity relationships depends on the balance between growth and mortality rates in the community. Traditionally, studies of plant size distributions have focused on singleâspecies populations and forests, but here we examine diverse communities dominated by plants with varied life histories, including grasses, forbs, shrubs, and succulents. In particular, we test whether the parameters of the individual size distribution differ systematically across community types, whether they fit the contrasting predictions of metabolic or demographic theories, and whether they share a common crossâcommunity scaling relationship with forest communities and crop populations. All thirteen of our study sites better fit the predictions of demographic equilibrium theory, but interestingly, fits of both demographic and metabolic models showed little systematic variation across community types, despite large differences in environmental conditions and dominant life forms. Finally, analysis of the crossâcommunity scaling relationship demonstrates that natural and restored nonâforest communities conform to patterns of size and abundance observed among forest, plantation, and crop systems. Taken together, our results suggest that common ecological mechanisms govern plant community size structure across broad environmental gradients, regardless of the dominant plant life forms or limiting resources.Kenyon College Summer Science Scholars program; NSF REU grant, National Science Foundation (NSF) - Office of the Director (OD); National Science Foundation (NSF) [DEB-1556651]Open access journalThis item from the UA Faculty Publications collection is made available by the University of Arizona with support from the University of Arizona Libraries. If you have questions, please contact us at [email protected]