Plant Diversity and Distribution Patterns in Serpentine Grasslands PDF Download
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Author: Sarah Claire Elmendorf
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
Author: Sarah Claire Elmendorf
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 228
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Book Description
Author: Susan Harrison
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520948459
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 461
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Book Description
Serpentine soils have long fascinated biologists for the specialized floras they support and the challenges they pose to plant survival and growth. This volume focuses on what scientists have learned about major questions in earth history, evolution, ecology, conservation, and restoration from the study of serpentine areas, especially in California. Results from molecular studies offer insight into evolutionary patterns, while new ecological research examines both species and communities. Serpentine highlights research whose breadth provides context and fresh insights into the evolution and ecology of stressful environments.
Author: Leslie Marie Gonzalez
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Grassland ecology
Languages : en
Pages : 216
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Book Description
Author: L.F. Huenneke
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
ISBN: 9400931131
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 224
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Book Description
The chapters in this volume are based on a opportumtles for studying the links between symposium, "California grasslands: structure abiotic and biotic components. and productivity", supported by the National The contributions in this volume illustrate Science Foundation. The primary objective of the links between population-level processes this symposium was to integrate the current and system-level phenomena in a well-studied understanding of controls on ecosystem struc community. Unfortunately, some areas of cur ture and function with the approaches of popu rent research (e.g., nutrient cycling) are under lation biology. The annual grasslands are represented in this volume. For other topics eminently suitable for experimental and manip (particularly the role of invertebrate con sumers), the lack of data from the annual grass ulative studies of ecosystem processes. The short lives and small stature of the component land brought a broader grassland perspective. plant species make experimental work far more Together, however, the contributions illustrate practical than in forests or even in perennial the importance of different ecological ap dominated prairies. The system's small-scale proaches in studying the controls on structure patchiness, and the obvious importance of and function of a complex system. the region's mediterranean climate in the life cycle of the annual vegetation, afford many L.F. Huenneke and H.A. Mooney Huenneke, L.F. and Mooney, H. (eds) Grassland Structure and Function: California Annual Grassland.
Author: Jae R. Pasari
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 262
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Author: Barbara Marie Going
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781267758811
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :
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Book Description
Climatic variation, perhaps the most important force structuring the world's ecological communities, now receives growing attention from ecologists because of the incontrovertible evidence for directional climate change, including increases in variability. One of the less understood aspects of climatic impacts is how they may be mediated by intrinsic differences among natural communities, in factors such as soil fertility, functional composition, functional diversity, invasion history, and human land use. My dissertation examines how soil mediates the response of species and communities to climate at local and regional spatial scales using experimental and observational approaches. In addition, I use species functional traits as a tool to better understand the mechanisms driving community response to both natural and experimental variation in climate.First, I compared grasslands on infertile serpentine and `normal' sedimentary soils with respect to temporal variability in species richness and composition using a 10 year data set. I found that variability in species richness and composition tracked precipitation on both soils, but variability was lower in grasslands on serpentine. Communities on serpentine had species with more "stress-tolerant" traits than non-serpentine communities. Within and between soils, variability in richness and temporal turnover were lower in communities scoring lower on a multivariate index of these stress-tolerant traits. In addition, I found that within 41 species found commonly on both soils, variability was lower on serpentine and was positively correlated with community biomass. Thus, I concluded that infertile soils reduce variability indirectly by selecting for stress-tolerant traits and directly by limiting productivity, suggesting that communities on infertile soils may respond more conservatively to predicted long-term directional changes in climate than communities on soils of normal fertility. Second, in a study across a 1200-km rainfall/productivity gradient in California, I asked if dissimilarity between 96 pairs of plant communities on serpentine and adjacent non-serpentine soils is higher in wetter and more productive regions. I found that communities on serpentine soil had more "stress-tolerant" traits than non-serpentine communities regardless of the climate. Local diversity, species composition, and functional composition were all less strongly related to climate on serpentine than non-serpentine soils. As predicted, the dissimilarity between serpentine and non-serpentine communities was highest in wet and productive climates. Soil organic matter and Ca:Mg increased with increasing climatic productivity, but only on non-serpentine soils generating a difference between soils that was positively correlated with dissimilarity. These results lend support to hypothesis that increasing niche specialization along productivity gradients may contribute to the positive productivity-beta diversity relationship.Finally, in a three year study, I experimentally tested the response of serpentine and non-serpentine communities to increases (via irrigation tanks) or decreases (via rainout shelters) in spring rain. I also compared the responses of endemics and generalists to changes in spring rain in the absence or presence of competition. Peak season biomass was significantly greater in the rain addition plots in the non-serpentine grassland compared to control plots, but depended on the year. There was no effect of either rain treatment on biomass production in the serpentine grassland. The survival, biomass production, growth rates, and seed production of soil endemics and generalists were all significantly reduced by competition, but were unaffected by changes in spring rain. Overall, endemics tended to perform better in serpentine soil and generalists tended to perform better in non-serpentine soil, suggesting that soil is an important factor for the establishment and survival of endemics and generalists. The effect of competition was similar on both soil types, suggesting that species interactions may be important even in low resource habitats. In conclusion, these results suggest that special soil or low fertility plant communities may be slow to respond to changes in climate compared to communities on more fertile soil and that community response may depend on the dominant species.
Author: Earl B. Alexander
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190290056
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 528
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Book Description
Geoecology is a fruitful interdisciplinary field, relating rocks to soils to plant and animal communities and studying the interactions between them. Modern geoecology especially concentrates on showing how geology and soils affect the structure, composition, and distribution of plant communities in a certain research area. This book applies the principles of geoecology to Western North America, and to a specific kind of rock, the fascinating serpentine belts that run along the continental margins of the West Coast from Alaska to Baja. The authors come from different disciplines: Alexander is a soil scientist, Coleman a geologist, Harrison a biological researcher, and Keeler-Wolfe a vegetation ecologist. It begins with an overview of the geology of this rock and this region, covering mineralogy, petrology, and stratigraphy of West Coast serpentine. It will continue with serpentine soils and their development and distribution, and serpentine effects on plants and vegetation and animals. The serpentine geoecology of the different regions of Western North America, concentrating on California, will conclude the study. So, this academic book should appeal to plant ecologists, soil scientists, researchers in geoecology, and students in advanced courses in soil science.
Author: Susan Patricia Harrison
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 0520268350
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 460
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Book Description
"This outstanding volume brings together leading experts across a broad range of disciplines to bring serpentine into focus, as never before, as a window to understanding major natural processes and patterns in nature. By doing so, the authors illuminate exciting questions and challenges that will serve to inspire and direct much future study of these fascinating systems."—Bruce G. Baldwin, University of California, Berkeley
Author: Mark R. Stromberg
Publisher: Univ of California Press
ISBN: 9780520252202
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 416
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Book Description
"This highly synthetic and scholarly work brings together new and important scientific contributions by leading experts on a rich diversity of topics concerning the history, ecology, and conservation of California's endangered grasslands. The editors and authors have succeeded admirably in drawing from a great wealth of recent research to produce a widely accessible and compelling, state-of-the-art treatment of this fascinating subject. Anyone interested in Californian biodiversity or grassland ecosystems in general will find this book to be an invaluable resource and a major inspiration for further research, management, and restoration efforts."—Bruce G. Baldwin, W. L. Jepson Professor and Curator, UC Berkeley "Grasses and grasslands are among the most important elements of the California landscape. This is their book, embodying the kind of integrated view needed for all ecological communities in California. Approaches ranging across an incredibly broad spectrum -- paleontology and human history; basic science and practical management techniques; systematics, community ecology, physiology, and genetics; physical factors such as water, soil nutrients, atmospherics, and fire; biological factors such as competition, symbiosis, and grazing -- are nicely tied together due to careful editorial work. This is an indispensable reference for everyone interested in the California environment."—Brent Mishler, Director of the University & Jepson Herbaria and Professor of Integrative Biology, UC Berkeley "The structure and function of California grasslands have intrigued ecologists for decades. The editors of this volume have assembled a comprehensive set of reviews by a group of outstanding authors on the natural history, structure, management, and restoration of this economically and ecologically important ecosystem."—Scott L. Collins, Professor of Biology, University of New Mexico
Author: Mark D. Hunter
Publisher: Elsevier
ISBN: 0080918816
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 518
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Book Description
Aimed primarily at advanced graduate students and professional biologists, this book explores the degree to which animal*b1plant interactions are determined by plant and animal variability. Many of the patterns seen in natural communities appear to result from cascading effects up as well as down the trophic system. Variability among primary producers can influence animal and plant population quality and dynamics, community structure, and the evolution of animal*b1plant interations.
