Alpine Plant Life Functional Plant Ecology of High Mountain Ecosystems
Generations of plant scientists have been fascinated by alpine plant life - with the exposure of organisms to dramatic climatic gradients over a very short distance. This comprehensive text treats a wide range of topics: alpine climate and soils, plant distribution and the treeline phenomenon, physi...
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| Format: | eBook |
| Language: | English |
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Berlin, Heidelberg
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
1999, 1999
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| Edition: | 1st ed. 1999 |
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| Online Access: | |
| Collection: | Springer Book Archives -2004 - Collection details see MPG.ReNa |
Table of Contents:
- 1 Plant ecology at high elevations
- The concept of limitation
- A regional and historical account
- The challenge of alpine plant research
- 2 The alpine life zone
- Altitudinal boundaries
- Global alpine land area
- Alpine plant diversity
- Origin of alpine floras
- Alpine growth forms
- 3 Alpine climate
- Which alpine climate?
- Common features of alpine climates
- Regional features of alpine climates
- 4 The climate plants experience
- Interactions of relief, wind and sun
- How alpine plants influence their climate
- 5 Life under snow: protection and limitation
- Temperatures under snow
- Solar radiation under snow
- Gas concentrations under snow
- Plant responses to snowpack
- 6 Alpine soils
- Physics of alpine soil formation
- The organic compound
- The interaction of organic and inorganic compounds
- 7 Alpine treelines
- About trees and lines
- Current altitudinal positions of climatic treelines
- Treeline-climate relationships
- Alpine plant age
- 17 Global change at high elevation
- Alpine land use
- The impact of altered atmospheric chemistry
- Climatic change and alpine ecosystems
- References (with chapter annotation)
- Taxonomic index (genera)
- Color Plates
- Plant life forms
- The alpine life zone
- Environmental stress
- The human dimension
- Intrazonal variations and pantropical plateauing of alpine treelines
- Treelines in the past
- Attempts at a functional explanation of treelines
- A hypothesis for treeline formation
- Growth trends near treelines
- 8 Climatic stress
- Survival of low temperature extremes
- Avoidance and tolerance of low temperature extremes
- Heat stress in alpine plants
- Ultraviolet radiation — a stress factor?
- 9 Water relations
- Ecosystem water balance
- Soil moisture at high altitudes
- Plant water relations: a brief review of principles
- Water relations of alpine plants
- Desiccation stress
- Water relations of special plant types
- 10 Mineral nutrition
- Soil nutrients
- The nutrient status of alpine plants
- Nutrient cycling and nutrient budgets
- Nitrogen fixation
- Mycorrhiza
- Responses of vegetation to variable nutrient supply
- 11Uptake and loss of carbon
- Photosynthetic capacity of alpine plants
- Photosynthetic responses to the environment
- Daily carbon gain of leaves
- The seasonal carbon gain of leaves
- C4 and CAM photosynthesis at high altitudes
- Tissue respiration of alpine plants
- Ecosystem carbon balance
- 12 Carbon investments
- Non-structural carbohydrates
- Lipids and energy content
- Carbon costs of leaves and roots
- Whole plant carbon allocation
- 13 Growth dynamics
- Seasonal growth
- Diurnal leaf extension
- Rates of plant dry matter accumulation
- Functional duration of leaves and roots
- 14 Cell division and tissue formation
- Cell size and plant size
- Mitosis and the cell cycle
- From meristem activity to growth control
- 15 Plant biomass production
- The structure of alpine plant canopies
- Primary productivity of alpine vegetation
- Plant dry matter pools
- Biomass losses through herbivores
- 16 Plant reproduction
- Flowering and pollination
- Seed development and seed size
- Germination
- Alpine seed banks and natural recruitment
- Clonal propagation