Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Ecosystems and Climate
- Part I The Earth System
- Part II Global Physical Climatology
- Part III Hydrometeorology
- Part IV Biometeorology
- Part V Terrestrial Plant Ecology
- 18 Plant Strategies
- 19 Populations and Communities
- 20 Ecosystems
- 21 Soil Biogeochemistry
- 22 Vegetation Dynamics
- 23 Landscapes and Disturbances
- 24 Global Biogeography
- Part VI Terrestrial Forcings and Feedbacks
- Appendix
- Index
- Plate section
- References
18 - Plant Strategies
from Part V - Terrestrial Plant Ecology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2015
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Contents
- Preface
- 1 Ecosystems and Climate
- Part I The Earth System
- Part II Global Physical Climatology
- Part III Hydrometeorology
- Part IV Biometeorology
- Part V Terrestrial Plant Ecology
- 18 Plant Strategies
- 19 Populations and Communities
- 20 Ecosystems
- 21 Soil Biogeochemistry
- 22 Vegetation Dynamics
- 23 Landscapes and Disturbances
- 24 Global Biogeography
- Part VI Terrestrial Forcings and Feedbacks
- Appendix
- Index
- Plate section
- References
Summary
Chapter Summary
A plant uses the carbon gained during photosynthesis for maintenance and survival, to grow foliage, a stem, and roots, and for reproduction. It must allocate its limited available resources among growth, maintenance, and reproduction in a manner such that the species persists over time. Plants exhibit different strategies for allocating resources, collectively known as life history patterns. A successful strategy is to invest heavily in reproductive effort. The plant is small, short lived, and has many widely dispersed seeds, such as a herbaceous annual. An equally successful strategy is to be large, long lived, and have a small crop of large seeds, such as a tree. This life history favors maintenance over reproduction. There are multiple life history patterns that allow success in a given environment, but not all are successful in all environments. The environment selectively determines which strategy is successful. These life histories ensure the persistence of multiple species across the landscape in accordance with resource gradients and disturbance regimes. They give pattern to the arrangement of plant populations and communities in space and time. Three conceptualizations of plant strategies are the classifications of species into: r- and K-selected life histories; ruderal, competitor, and stress tolerator plants; and early and late successional species. More generally, plant functional types are broad classes of plants that reduce the complexity of species diversity in ecological function to a few plant types defined by key physiological and life history characteristics. However, plant traits have a continuum of variation. These traits are understood in terms of functional tradeoffs between high metabolism and persistence.
Carbon Balance of Plants
The net carbon gain of a plant that is available for growth is the difference between carbon uptake during photosynthesis and carbon loss during respiration (Figure 18.1). The photosynthetic uptake of an individual leaf must be summed over all foliage held by the plant to give gross primary production (GPP). Respiration loss must be summed over all tissues in the plant. The combined whole-plant respiration is termed autotrophic respiration (RA) and is typically about 50 percent of gross primary production (Ryan 1991). Plant respiration is divided into growth respiration, which is independent of temperature, and maintenance respiration, which increases with higher temperatures. Growth respiration releases CO2 during the synthesis of new tissues. This involves the incorporation of carbon into organic compounds and the expenditure of metabolic energy to produce the compounds.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Ecological ClimatologyConcepts and Applications, pp. 291 - 314Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2015
References
, and (1973). Growth form and reproductive effort in goldenrods (Solidago, Compositae). American Naturalist, 107, 651–661.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1979). The physiological ecology of plant succession. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 10, 351–371.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1996). Plants in Changing Environments: Linking Physiological, Population, and Community Ecology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
, , III, and (1985). Resource limitation in plants – an economic analogy. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 16, 363–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (2002). Landscapes as patches of plant functional types: An integrating concept for climate and ecosystem models. Global Biogeochemical Cycles, 16, 1021, doi:10.1029/2000GB001360.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1979). Pattern and Process in a Forested Ecosystem. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (2012). Elegance versus speed: examining the competition between conifer and angiosperm trees. International Journal of Plant Sciences, 173, 673–694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1982). The ecology of leaf life spans. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 13, 229–259.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, III (1991). Integrated responses of plants to stress. BioScience, 41, 29–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , et al. (2012). Global convergence in the vulnerability of forests to drought. Nature, 491, 752–755.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , and (1999). Continuous fields of vegetation characteristics at the global scale at 1-km resolution. Journal of Geophysical Research, 104D, 16911–16923.Google Scholar
, , and (2000a). Global continuous fields of vegetation characteristics: A linear mixture model applied to multi-year 8 km AVHRR data. International Journal of Remote Sensing, 21, 1389–1414.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , and (2000b). A new global 1-km dataset of percentage tree cover derived from remote sensing. Global Change Biology, 6, 247–254.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1986). The photosynthesis–nitrogen relationship in wild plants. In On the Economy of Plant Form and Function, ed. . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, pp. 25–55.Google Scholar
, and (1972). The concept of r- and K-selection: Evidence from wild flowers and some theoretical considerations. American Naturalist, 106, 14–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1992). Plant allocation and the multiple limitation hypothesis. American Naturalist, 139, 1322–1343.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1990). Larches: Deciduous conifers in an evergreen world. BioScience, 40, 818–826.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , et al. (1997). Carbon distribution and aboveground net primary production in aspen, jack pine, and black spruce stands in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, Canada. Journal of Geophysical Research, 102D, 29029–29041.Google Scholar
(1997). Toward models of resource allocation by plants. In Plant Resource Allocation, ed. and . San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 279–291.Google Scholar
, and (1977). Leaf area of mature northwestern coniferous forests: Relation to site water balance. Ecology, 58, 893–899.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1965). Seedling establishment in vertical gradients of sunlight. Journal of Ecology, 53, 621–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1970). The reproductive strategy of higher plants, I: The concept of strategy with special reference to Senecio vulgaris L.Journal of Ecology, 58, 681–698.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1987). Plant succession: Life history and competition. American Naturalist, 130, 168–198.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1966). Effects of microclimate on spring flowering phenology. Ecology, 47, 407–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1991). A cost–benefit analysis of leaf habit and leaf longevity of trees and their geographical pattern. American Naturalist, 138, 1250–1263.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (2010). The relationship between wood density and mortality in a global tropical forest data set. New Phytologist, 188, 1124–1136.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1994). The role of large seed size in shaded conditions: Experimental evidence. Functional Ecology, 8, 205–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1988). Tree life history strategies: The role of defenses. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 18, 209–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1967). The Theory of Island Biogeography. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
, , , and (2011a). Hydraulics and life history of tropical dry forest tree species: Coordination of species’ drought and shade tolerance. New Phytologist, 191, 480–495.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , , and (2011b). Ecological differentiation in xylem cavitation resistance is associated with stem and leaf structural traits. Plant, Cell and Environment, 34, 137–148.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and (1994). Climate influences the leaf area/sapwood area ratio in Scots pine. Tree Physiology, 15, 1–10.Google Scholar
, and (1982). Constraints on leaf structure and function in reference to herbivory. BioScience, 32, 198–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1989). Testing a theoretical climate–soil–leaf area hydrologic equilibrium of forests using satellite data and ecosystem simulation. Agricultural and Forest Meteorology, 44, 245–260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, and (1996). Implementation of a hierarchical global vegetation classification in ecosystem function models. Journal of Vegetation Science, 7, 337–346.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(2007). Maximum plant height and the biophysical factors that limit it. Tree Physiology, 27, 433–440.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , and (2009). Causes and consequences of variation in leaf mass per area (LMA): A meta-analysis. New Phytologist, 182, 565–588.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , et al. (2012). Biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots: Meta-analyses of interspecific variation and environmental control. New Phytologist, 193, 30–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , and (1992). Leaf life-span in relation to leaf, plant, and stand characteristics among diverse ecosystems. Ecological Monographs, 62, 365–392.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , and (1995a). Different photosynthesis–nitrogen relations in deciduous hardwood and evergreen coniferous tree species. Oecologia, 104, 24–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , and (1995b). Causes and consequences of variation in conifer leaf life-span. In Ecophysiology of Coniferous Forests, ed. and . San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 225–254.Google Scholar
, , and (1997). From tropics to tundra: global convergence in plant functioning. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, 94, 13730–13734.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , and (1998a). Leaf structure (specific leaf area) modulates photosynthesis–nitrogen relations: Evidence from within and across species and functional groups. Functional Ecology, 12, 948–958.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , et al. (1998b). Relationships of leaf dark respiration to leaf nitrogen, specific leaf area and leaf life-span: A test across biomes and functional groups. Oecologia, 114, 471–482.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , , and , Jr. (1995). A remote sensing based vegetation classification logic for global land cover analysis. Remote Sensing of Environment, 51, 39–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1991). Effects of climate change on plant respiration. Ecological Applications, 1, 157–167.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and (1997). Hydraulic limits to tree height and tree growth. BioScience, 47, 235–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , and (2006). The hydraulic limitation hypothesis revisited. Plant, Cell and Environment, 29, 367–381.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and (1996). Seedling longevity under deep shade in relation to seed size. Journal of Ecology, 84, 681–689.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , and (1994). Relationships among maximum stomatal conductance, ecosystem surface conductance, carbon assimilation rate, and plant nitrogen nutrition: A global ecology scaling exercise. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 25, 629–660.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1984). A Theory of Forest Dynamics: The Ecological Implications of Forest Succession Models. New York: Springer-Verlag.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1987). Dynamic ecosystem consequences of tree birth and death patterns. BioScience, 37, 596–602.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1998). Terrestrial Ecosystems in Changing Environments. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
(1988). Plant Strategies and the Dynamics and Structure of Plant Communities. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
, and (2010). Remote sensing of plant functional types. New Phytologist, 186, 795–816.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, and (2000). Seed size, nitrogen supply, and growth rate affect tree seedling survival in deep shade. Ecology, 81, 1887–1901.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1983). Estimating forest growth and efficiency in relation to canopy leaf area. Advances in Ecological Research, 13, 327–354.Google Scholar
(1991). Responses of evergreen trees to multiple stresses. In Response of Plants to Multiple Stresses, ed. , , and . San Diego: Academic Press, pp. 371–390.Google Scholar
, and (1979). Evergreen coniferous forests of the Pacific Northwest. Science, 204, 1380–1386.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , and (1982). Application of the pipe model theory to predict canopy leaf area. Canadian Journal of Forest Research, 12, 556–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
, , , , and (2002). Plant ecological strategies: Some leading dimensions of variation between species. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 33, 125–159.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
(1993). Leaf responses to the environment and extrapolation to larger scales. In Vegetation Dynamics and Global Change, ed. and . New York: Chapman and Hall, pp. 71–100.Google Scholar
, , , et al. (2004). The worldwide leaf economics spectrum. Nature, 428, 821–827.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , et al. (2005). Assessing the generality of global leaf trait relationships. New Phytologist, 166, 485–496.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
, , , et al. (2010). Functional traits and the growth–mortality trade-off in tropical trees. Ecology, 91, 3664–3674.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed