Plant Functional Types - Their Relevance to Ecosystem Properties and Global Change

Paperback  383pp, 113 diags, 5 B+W illus, 5 col  ISBN 0521566436      £45.00

This book describes approaches and methods for grouping species with similar characteristics into functional types in ways which maximise our potential to predict accurately the responses of real vegetation with real species diversity.

Contents

Preface T. M. Smith, H. H. Shugart and F. I. Woodward; 1. What are functional types and how should we seek them? H. Gitay and I. R. Noble; 2. Plant and ecosystem functional types H. H. Shugart; 3. Plant functional types: towards a definition by environmental constraints F. I. Woodward and C. K. Kelly; 4. Can we use plant functional types to describe and predict responses to environmental change? R. J. Hobbs; 5. Functional types in non-equilibrium ecosystems B. H. Walker; 6. Categorizing plant species into functional types M. Westoby and M. Leishman; 7. Functional types: testing the concept in Northern England J. P. Grime et al; 8. Plant functional types and ecosystem change in arctic tundras G. Shaver, A. E. Giblin, K. J. Nadelhoffer and E. B. Rastetter; 9. Predicting the impact of global change on biodiversity: a case study in Cape Fynbos W. J. Bond; 10. Defining functional types for models of desertification J. F. Reynolds, R. A. Ross and W. H. Schlesinger; 11. Plant functional types in temperate arid regions O. Sala, W. K. Lauenroth and R. A. Golluscio; 12. Interactions between demographic and ecosystem processes: a challenge for functional types W. K. Lauenroth, D. P. Coffin, I. C. Burke and R. A. Virginia; 13. Plant functional types in African savannas and grasslands R. J. Scholes, G. Pickett, W. N. Ellery and A. C. Blackmore; 14. Using plant functional types in a global vegetation model W. Cramer; 15. The use of plant functional type classifications to model the global land cover and simulate the interactions between the terrestrial biosphere and the atmosphere R. Leemans; 16. Examining the consequences of classifying species into functional types: a simulation model analysis T. M. Smith; 17. Ecosystem function of biodiversity - the basis of the viewpoint H. A. Mooney; 18. Defining plant functional types - the end view F. I. Woodward, T. M. Smith and H. H. Shugart; References; Index.