Shows how pattern and structure at different levels of plant organisation are influenced by abiotic factors such as climate and soils and by biotic factors such as competition and herbivory. Adopting a dynamic approach, the text relies on experimental data rather than purely descriptive text. New aspects of this edition: more consideration of plant secondary chemistry, interspecific competition, succession, sex and breeding systems, plant diversity and the effects of pollution.
List of Contributors Preface to the Second Edition Preface to the First Edition Photosynthesis (Harold A Mooney and James R Ehleringer) Plant Water Relations (John Grace) Nutrient acquisition (Alastair Fitter) Life History and Environment (Michael J Crawley) Plant Secondary Metabolism (Jeffrey B Harborne) Sex (Michael J Crawley) Seed Dormancy (Mark Rees) Mechanisms of Plant Competition (David Tilman) Ecology of Pollination and Seed Dispersal (Henry F Howe and Lynn C Westley) Plant Chemistry and Herbivory, or Why the World is Green (Susan E Hartley and Clive G Jones) The Structure of Plant Populations (Michael J Hutchings) Plant Population Dynamics (Andrew R Watkinson) Plant-Herbivore Dynamics (Michael J Crawley) The Structure of Plant Communities (Michael J Crawley) Dynamics of Plant Communities (Stephen W Pacala) Plants in Trophic Webs (James P Grover and Robert D Holt) Plants and Pollution (Mike Ashmore) Climate Change and Vegetation (J Philip Grime) Biodiversity (Michael J Crawley) References Index
The second edition Plant Ecology is outstandingly good. If you enjoyed the first edition, read the second. It is new. It can be recommended to teachers, research workers and able students. Complex theory is explained clearly; current issues are brought to the fore. Above all, it is inspiring. As Crawley says of plant taxonomy, 'It's fun'. Journal of Ecology "The first edition of the book was one of the most successful publishing events in the field of plant ecology in the 1980s. As the new edition seems to be improved in several directions it has a good chance to become a benchmark text in plant ecology even at the beginning of the new millennium. I can recommend it to anybody who wants to refresh his/her knowledge on the particular topic of plant ecology and as a supplementary text to students of a general ecology course." Leos Klimes, Folia Geobotanica, 2002, (37)