Lecture 1: Intro & Revision

Question 1

6 major themes

Answer 1

1. Vegetation formation (biomes, UK habitats, mapping)
2. Synecology (plant communities)
3. Autecology (single species)
4. Plant geography (soil, biogeography)
5. Paleoecology (history, dynamics, methodologies, human impacts, conservation)
6. Modern plant ecology (invasive species, legislation and control)

Question 2

How to study plant ecology?

Answer 2

• broadest is a biome e.g. savannah, tropical rainforest, desert.
• Physiognomy: physical structure of vegetation. overall structure or physical appearance-what the community and its dominant species look like, their height and spacing (height and canopy cover), and shape. It is descriptive of the life forms of the dominant species, for example, their size, leaf traits, and phenology (deciduous, evergreen).
• plant species identification then plant community analysis
• functional classification
• phytogeography (how plants distributed across world due to climate & history)

Question 3

Biomes

Answer 3

• location of biomes is determined by the climate (temp, rainfall)
• classify them according to their structure e.g. desert vs rainforest
• rainforest = hot, wet
• savanna = hot, decreasing moisture
• desert = hot, dry
• temperate forest = wet, decreasing temp
• temperate grassland = decreasing temp & moisture
• taiga = decreasing temp, subarctic
• tundra = cold, artic

Question 4

Paleoecology

Answer 4

study of the composition and distribution of past ecosystems and their changes through time on scales of decades to hundreds of millions of years.

Question 5

Vegetation description and analysis

Answer 5

• individual plants are the building blocks
• each plant hierarchically classified
• identification & nomenclature (naming) based on physiognomy (structure) & growth form

Question 6

Vegetation description and analysis

Answer 6

• individuals together form a species population
• populations together form plant communities
• presence or absence of species of primary importance
• abundance of species also of interest

Question 7

Concept of the plant community

Answer 7

• major distinctions made on physiognomy e.g. woodland versus grassland
• units also represent landscape sub-divisions in functional terms as ecosystems
• more subtle changes are evident in colour variations
• reflect differences in plant species composition

Question 8

Concept of the plant community

Answer 8

• defined as ‘the collection of plant species growing together in a particular location that show a definite association or affinity with each other’
• certain plant species found growing together in certain environments & locations
• characteristic communities according to habitat type e.g. sand dune versus woodland

Question 9

Concept of the plant community

Question 10

Plant communities

Question 11

Environmental limiting factors

Answer 11

• why do certain species grow together?
• similar requirements for environmental factors - light, temp, H2O, drainage, soil nutrients

Question 12

Environmental limiting factors

Question 13

Environmental limiting factors

Answer 13

• variation of species abundance in response to an environmental factor = gradient
• width & height of curve varies