Despite a century of study by ecologists, recovery following disturbances (succession) is not fully understood. This book provides the first global synthesis that compares plant succession in all major terrestrial biomes and after all major terrestrial disturbances. It asks critical questions such as: Does succession follow general patterns across biomes and disturbance types? Do factors that control succession differ from biome to biome? If common drivers exist, what are they? Are they abiotic or biotic, or both? The authors provide insights on broad, generalizable patterns that go beyond site-specific studies, and present discussions on factors such as varying temporal dynamics, latitudinal differences, human-caused vs. natural disturbances, and the role of invasive alien species. This book is a must-read for researchers and students in ecology, plant ecology, restoration ecology and conservation biology. It also provides a valuable framework to aid land managers attempting to manipulate successional recovery following increasingly intense and widespread human-made disturbances.

Comparative Plant Succession among Terrestrial Biomes of the World

The single disappointment of the new edition is the loss of the chart of categories and relationships of fishes from the inside front cover. It is now buried on (unnumbered) pages xvi-xvii, between the Acknowledgments and the Introduction, making it much harder to find. Owners of the book may want to place a permanent bookmark in the chart for quick reference. The new chart, while showing better resolution of groups in this edition, has also lost all the names between Class and Order. While some of these names were for non-cladistic grades, their presence on the previous edition’s chart was of great benefit, particularly for students, to determine exactly what is a “teleost” or “actinopterygian”, or any of the other names that are commonly used by ichthyologists.

Insects: Their Natural History and Diversity: With a photographic guide to insects of eastern

Conclusions and Future Research Challenges

Plant Succession and Biomes

Literature and Search Phrases Used in Comparative Analyses

While ecologists have studied succession for well over 100 y, there has been little characterization of diversity patterns in nonplant organisms or their interactions across successional gradients. In this study we examined herbaceous vertical vegetation structure and diversity in plants, arthropods, and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) in three Great Lakes sand dune chronosequences. Plant species richness increased linearly across the primary successional gradients at the three sampling sites, while plant vertical structure remained constant. Total arthropod abundance and species richness were positively associated with plant vertical cover, while AMF spore abundance and morpho-type richness were positively associated with plant species richness. Carnivore and herbivore functional groups of arthropods responded differently to plant vertical cover and species richness. Diversity across early primary successional gradients does not consistently increase among different trophic levels, and the ve...

https://bioone.org/journals/The-American-Midland-Naturalist/volume-173/issue-2/amid-173-02-177-190.1/Patterns-of-Trophic-level-Diversity-Associated-with-Herbaceous-Dune-Vegetation/10.1674/amid-173-02-177-190.1.pdf

C. Bradford Gottshall

Papers

Patterns of Trophic-level Diversity Associated with Herbaceous Dune Vegetation Across a Primary Successional Gradient