Plant Strategies: The Demographic Consequences of Functional Traits in Changing Environments

Plants have evolved a range of strategies to survive and reproduce in a world where resources are scarce, disturbances can be deadly, and competition is fierce. This book aims to unite life history theory with comparative functional ecology to advance prediction in plant ecology, focusing on how species respond to global change.

Format: Hardback
Length: 464 pages
Publication date: 27 July 2023
Publisher: Oxford University Press

Plants have evolved a diverse range of strategies to survive and reproduce in a challenging environment. Some plants are gamblers, taking risks to obtain resources, while others are swindlers, exploiting resources efficiently. Some plants are habitual spenders, while others are strugglers and miserly savers. These strategies have evolved to maximize the chances of survival and reproduction in a world where resources are scarce, disturbances can be deadly, and competition is fierce.

Plant ecologists have been fascinated by these strategies and have worked tirelessly to understand how plants assemble plant communities, predict their responses to global change, and enhance the restoration of our rapidly degrading biosphere. One of the most important topics in plant ecology is the synthesis of plant strategy models. These models typically emphasize either life history strategies based on demography or functional strategies based on ecophysiology. However, this disciplinary divide between demography and physiology runs deep and continues to this day.

The goal of this accessible book is to articulate a coherent framework that unifies life history theory with comparative functional ecology to advance prediction in plant ecology. By understanding the dimensionality of life history and functional traits, we can quantitatively link phenotypes to population growth rates across gradients of resource availability and disturbance regimes. This will enable us to better predict how species respond to global change, which is perhaps the most important challenge of our time.

A robust framework for plant strategy theory will advance this research agenda by testing the generality of traits for predicting population dynamics. This will help us to identify the key factors that determine the success of different plant species in a changing environment and to develop strategies for conserving and managing plant diversity.

In conclusion, plants have evolved a spectacular array of strategies to survive and reproduce in a challenging environment. By understanding these strategies and developing a coherent framework that unifies life history theory with comparative functional ecology, we can advance prediction in plant ecology and better understand the role of plants in our world. This knowledge is essential for conserving and managing plant diversity and for addressing the challenges of global change.

Dimension: 246 x 171 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780192867940