The role of plasticity in resource capture by plants

Authors: Grime J.P.¹; Mackey J.M.L.²

Source: Evolutionary Ecology, Volume 16, Number 3, 2002 , pp. 299-307(9)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

Comparative experiments measuring the form and extent of plant responses to environmental factors allow an ecologically important distinction to be made between morphological plasticity and cellular acclimation. The two phenomena are associated with different sets of plant traits with which they occur with highest fidelity and potency at opposite ends of productivity gradients. A trade-off between scale and precision occurs with respect to the responses of plants to patchiness in resource supply and this provides valuable predictors of the status achieved by species in plant communities.

Keywords: cellular acclimation; defoliation; morphological plasticity; phylogeny; plant community structure; resource foraging; screening tests; sets of traits; tradeoffs

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom; tel.: +44-114-22-24315; fax: +44-114-22-20015; e-mail: j.p.grime@sheffield.ac.uk 2: Unit of Comparative Plant Ecology, Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, United Kingdom

Publication date: 2002-01-01