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The balance between the foliage projective covers of overstorey and understorey strata in Australian vegetation
Author(s) -
SPECHT R. L.,
MORGAN D. G.
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
australian journal of ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 0307-692X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.1981.tb01290.x
Subject(s) - understory , ecological succession , ecology , overgrazing , arid , canopy , vegetation (pathology) , climax community , climax , environmental science , agroforestry , grazing , biology , medicine , pathology
Foliage Projective Cover of the overstorey (canopy) of a‘climax’community appears to reach an equilibrium value determined largely by the prevailing climate. Overstorey FPC decreases in‘climax’communities in a graded series from humid to arid regions.Understorey cover (of all strata below the canopy) in‘climax’communities attains a balance with overstorey FPC. Disturbance (gaps, microhabitats, fire, overgrazing, invasion of woody weeds, etc.) may reduce the overstorey cover which will be compensated by an increase in understorey cover. Secondary succession back to the‘climax’structure will follow a path maintaining an inverse linear relationship between understorey cover and overstorey cover. At the same time, species diversity appears to decrease as overstorey cover increases.