The Ecology of Plants

The Ecology of Plants provides comprehensive, contemporary coverage of plant ecology. Now in its third edition, the text incorporates current scientific developments and includes hundreds of stunning photographs, insightful illustrations, and references. It also features a clean, modern design that makes the material accessible and appealing. The book covers a range of current and historical ecological topics, presented in an evolutionary context, with the focus on the interactions between plants and their environments over a range of scales. Some of the subjects covered are unique to plants, such as photosynthesis and the ecology of plant-soil interactions; other topics, such as resource and mate acquisition, emphasize the distinctive ways plants (in contrast to animals) deal with their environments. The book uniquely emphasizes the importance of evolutionary and other historical ecological processes as well as human environmental influences. While the book is written for an undergraduate course in plant ecology, the engaging style, thorough coverage of the field, and contemporary perspective make it accessible and useful to others as well, including graduate students in conservation biology, evolutionary biologists and resource managers.

Jessica Gurevitch is Distinguished Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolution at Stony Brook University.

Samuel M. Scheiner is a researcher in ecology and evolution.

Gordon A. Fox is Adjunct Professor of Biology at the University of New Mexico, and Emeritus Professor of Integrative Biology at the University of South Florida.

Chapter 1. The Science of Plant Ecology

Part 1: Individuals and Their Environment

Chapter 2. Photosynthesis and Light
Chapter 3. Water Relations and Thermal Energy Balance
Chapter 4. Soil and Terrestrial Plant Life
Chapter 5. Ecosystem Processes

Part 2: From Individuals to Populations

Chapter 6. Individual Growth and Reproduction
Chapter 7. Plant Life Histories
Chapter 8. Population Structure, Growth, and Decline
Chapter 9. Evolution: Processes and Change

Part 3: Population Interactions and Communities

Chapter 10. Competition and Other Plant Interactions
Chapter 11. Herbivory and other Trophic Interactions
Chapter 12. Community diversity and structure
Chapter 13. Community dynamics and succession
Chapter 14. Local Abundance, Diversity, and Rarity

Part 4: From Landscapes to Planet Earth
Chapter 15. Landscapes: Pattern and Scale
Chapter 16. Climate, Plants, and Climate Change
Chapter 17. Paleoecology
Chapter 18. Biomes and Physiognomy
Chapter 19. Global Biodiversity Patterns, Loss, and Conservation