Dispersal in Plants: A Population Perspective (Oxford Biology)
Roger Cousens,Calvin Dytham,Richard Law | 2008-05-11 00:00:00 | Oxford University Press, USA | 288 | Crop Science
This advanced textbook is the first to explore the consequences of plant dispersal for population and community dynamics, spatial patterns, and evolution. It successfully integrates a rapidly expanding body of theoretical and empirical research. · The first comprehensive treatment of plant dispersal set within a population framework · Examines both the processes and consequence of dispersal · Spans the entire range of research, from natural history and collection of empirical data to modeling and evolutionary theory · Provides a clear and simple explanation of mathematical concepts Dispersal in Plants is aimed principally at graduates interested in plant ecology, although given the strong current interests in invasive species and global change it will also be of interest and use to a broad audience of plant scientists and ecologists seeking an authoritative overview of this rapidly expanding field.
Reviews
This is a wonderful book and a must buy for anyone interested in plant dispersal from a population dynamics standpoint. The book is written in an engaging and easy-to-read style: due to intended minimization of highly specialized terms, and while there are equations they are clearly explained and shouldn't be feared (!) and, there are great graphics throughout.
The authors, Professors Roger Cousens, Calvin Dytham and Richard Law, have synthesized a vast array of scientific information and assembled it in a very informative manner. They have divided the book into three main sections. The first focuses on dispersal at the individual propagule level, discussing the mechanisms involved in dispersal with numerous examples from around the globe. The second section concentrates at the plant scale, how such data are collected in the field, analyzed and modelled (probability density functions). This is a great section which synthesizes many studies and elucidates differences and challenges of the different techniques which may have eluded many of us. The final section takes the step from individuals and plants to populations and communities. Discussing how plants spread at the community scale, how we can model that, and the evolutionary value of dispersal strategies etc., it too is a superb section. The final couple pages suggest areas of our knowledge that are missing and could benefit from further research, and loop holes we should avoid.
I would strongly recommend this book to senior undergraduates and graduates and anyone else interested in plant ecology and dispersal. This brings together a huge volume of literature and in so doing should serve to help this aspect of our discipline advance.
Download this book!
Free Ebooks Download