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A generic plant functional attribute set and grammar for dynamic vegetation description and analysis
Author(s) -
GILLISON A. N.,
CARPENTER G.
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
functional ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.272
H-Index - 154
eISSN - 1365-2435
pISSN - 0269-8463
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2435.1997.00157.x
Subject(s) - vegetation (pathology) , set (abstract data type) , biology , grammar , plant functional type , variation (astronomy) , plant species , ecology , computer science , linguistics , ecosystem , programming language , medicine , philosophy , physics , pathology , astrophysics
1. Conventional methods of vegetation description rarely convey the behavioural or response‐based information needed to describe effectively the world’s vegetation for conservation and management purposes. The information required for these purposes may be derived from a generic set of plant functional attributes (PFAs). 2. A grammar provides a syntactic rule base for generating and comparing individuals as functional models or modi based on specific PFA combinations. 3. The method facilitates rapid and uniform assessment of plant response to variation in the physical environment at differing spatial scales independently of species. This is illustrated by local, regional and global case studies.