Ecosystems Analysis and Population Biology: Lessons for the Development of Community Ecology

The Population Structure of Vegetation

“…The contributors take as a point of departure (implicitly, I think, if not explicitly) the view that the demographic attributes of species are important in understanding the manner in which plant communities are constituted or change; some have expressed this opinion for several years (e.g., Foin and Jain 1977, Grubb 1977, Grime 1979, van der Valk 1981. This is an attitude shared by many contemporary plant ecologists not represented here, who see the merits of a Darwinian (or Gleasonian/Salisburyan), population-centred explanation of community phenomena (e.g., Drury and Nisbet 1973, Raup 1975, Noble and S1atyer 1980, Shmida and Ellner, 1984, to cite but a few examples in the past decade or so).…”

“…Goodman (1975) believes, following Frank (1968), that the population characteristics of one or a few critica1 species may determine the stability of the community as a whole. There is, undoubtedly, increasing evidence forthisbelief in some plant communities (Watt 1947, Foin and Jain 1977, Turkington et al 1977, Turkington and Harper, 1979 but it is far from being convincingly documented. In this Handbook Symonides, van der Valk and Peart provide some instructive examples, using a diversity of conceptual approaches.…”

Population Biology

“…Nearly 10 years of comparative studies in six annual grassland species have focused on the nature of 25 genetic structure and life history traits (Foin and Jain 1977) ranging from visual scores to responses in large, controlled experiments. These species vary widely in several ecogenetic traits, in spite of the fact that they all presumably share a similar habitat, represent a "similar" history of introduction into California, and possess the same predominantly selfing system.…”