Premium
The capture and gratuitous disposal of resources by plants
Author(s) -
H. Thomas,
Sadras V. O.
Publication year - 2001
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.1365-2435.2001.00488.x
Subject(s) - biology , inefficiency , resource (disambiguation) , resource acquisition is initialization , mechanism (biology) , autotroph , ecology , natural resource , natural resource economics , resource allocation , economics , computer science , market economy , computer network , philosophy , epistemology , bacteria , genetics , microeconomics
Summary1 Every plant will die if light, water or nutrients are withheld for long enough. It is natural to think of plants in general as having evolved a strong drive for resource acquisition as a survival mechanism. All else being equal, an individual that sequesters more material from the environment than its neighbour must be at a competitive advantage. 2 But the resource capture imperative seems at odds with the profligacy of some characteristic developmental and metabolic processes in many plants. Here, using leaf senescence as a vantage point, we consider whether a kind of wilful inefficiency of resource use may not be essential for success as a terrestrial autotroph.