Plant Disturbance Ecology: The Process and the Response

by Edward A. Johnson (Editor), Kiyoko Miyanishi (Editor)

Overview

Disturbance ecology continues to be an active area of research, having undergone advances in many areas in recent years. One emerging direction is the increased coupling of physical and ecological processes, in which disturbances are increasingly traced back to mechanisms that cause the disturbances themselves, such as earth surface processes, mesoscale, and larger meteorological processes, and the ecological effects of interest are increasingly physiological.

Plant Disturbance Ecology, 2nd Edition encourages movement away from the informal, conceptual approach traditionally used in defining natural disturbances and clearly presents how scientists can use a multitude of approaches in plant disturbance ecology. This edition includes nine revised chapters from the first edition, as well new, more comprehensive chapters on fire disturbance and beaver disturbance. Edited by leading experts in the field, Plant Disturbance Ecology, 2nd Edition is an essential resource for scientists interested in understanding plant disturbance and ecological processes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780128188132
Publisher:	Elsevier Science
Publication date:	10/21/2020
Edition description:	2nd ed.
Pages:	562
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Edward A. Johnson is a Professor of Biological Sciences Ecology & Evolutionary Biology at the University of Calgary, Canada and up until June 2018, he was also the Director of the Biogeoscience Institute. His research interests are wildfires, avalanches, hillslope and fluvial geomorphic processes, climate, landuse, and other processes as they affect tree populations. He is particularly interested in the explicit coupling of the physical processes to ecological processes. He has over 114 publications and 4,693 total citations.

Kiyoko Miyanishi is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Guelph, having retired in 2005. She has edited 2 books, written 11 book chapters and has over 30 publications and 1,200 citations.

Table of Contents

1. Disturbance and Succession
2. The Turbulent Wind in Plant and Forest Canopies
3. Thunderstorm Downbursts: Windstorms and Blowdowns
4. Understanding How the Interaction of Wind and Trees Results in Windthrow, Stem Breakage, and Canopy Gap Formation
5. Meteorological Conditions Associated with Ice Storm Damage to Forests
6. The Effect of Icing Events on the Death and Regeneration of North American Trees
7. Coastal Dune Succession and the Reality of Dune Processes
8. Fluvial Geomorphic Disturbances and Life History Traits of Riparian Tree Species
9. Water Level Changes in Ponds and Lakes: The Hydrological Processes
10. Development of Post-Disturbance Vegetation in Prairie Wetlands
11. Modelling fire effects on plants: from organs to ecosystems
12. Insect Defoliators as Periodic Disturbances in Northern Forest Ecosystems
13. Revisiting the Relationship between Spruce Budworm Outbreaks and Forest Dynamics over the Holocene in Eastern North America Based on Novel Proxies
14. Beaver as Agents of Plant Disturbance

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Delivers a fully updated edition discussing the latest advances in plant disturbance ecology, emphasizing physiological and ecological processes

Editorial Reviews

"The process by which vegetation changes over time has fascinated plant ecologists for at least a century. Early theories emphasized slow, steady change to a hypothetical stable 'climax' community. By the 1970s, ecologists began to realize that disturbance was the rule, not the exception, and a rather radical shift in thinking about vegetation took hold. This multidisciplinary compendium seeks to move what might be called disturbance science beyond descriptive approaches to look at how particular physical disturbances actually cause particular ecological effects. The many authors cover, e.g., the specifics of how forces like wind (turbulence, microbursts, etc.) can physically cause stem breakage in trees. Other modes of disturbance treated here include ice storm damage to forests and trees; dynamic processes that affect coastal dunes; fluvial processes related to riparian tree growth; the effects of water-level changes in ponds and lakes; heating effects on vegetation; fire's effects on grasslands and trees; a variety of insect impacts on different systems; and the impact of beavers on woody vegetation. The level of technical detail in the chapters varies greatly, and a few rely heavily on mathematical formulas. Other chapters are essentially literature reviews. Plant ecologists with a process- or mechanistically oriented approach to understanding vegetation change will appreciate this book. Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-level undergraduates and above." —CHOICE

From the Publisher