Search

Mast seeding in perennial plants: Why, how, where?

For many years biologists have debated whether mast seeding (the synchronous intermittent production of large seed crops in perennial plants) results from weather conditions or is an evolved plant reproductive strategy. In this review, we analyze the evidence for the underlying causes of masting. In the absence of selection for higher or lower variability, plants will vary in tandem with the environment (resource matching). Two selective factors often favor the evolution of masting: increased pollination efficiency in wind-pollinated species, and satiation of seed predators.

Phylogenies and community ecology

As better phylogenetic hypotheses become available for many groups of organisms, studies in community ecology can be informed by knowledge of the evolutionary relationships among coexisting species. We note three primary approaches to integrating phylogenetic information into studies of community organization: 1. examining the phylogenetic structure of community assemblages, 2. exploring the phylogenetic basis of community niche structure, and 3. adding a community context to studies of trait evolution and biogeography.

Reid's Paradox of rapid plant migration: Dispersal theory and interpretation of paleoecological records

The evolution of plant communities: Biodiversity and community

Invariant scaling relations across tree-dominated communities

Invariant scaling relationships for interspecific plant biomass production rates and body size

General patterns of taxonomic and biomass partitioning in extant and fossil plant communities

Universal scaling in tree and vascular plant allometry: Toward a general quantitative theory linking plant form and function from cells to ecosystems

An allometric model for seed plant reproduction

Cope's rule and the evolution of long distance transport in vascular plants: Allometric scaling, biomass partitioning and optimization