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New insights into vegetation patterns and processes
Author(s) -
Öpik Maarja,
Bello Francesco,
Price Jodi N.,
Fraser Lauchlan H.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1111/nph.12606
Subject(s) - ecology , vegetation (pathology) , mutualism (biology) , ecosystem , context (archaeology) , biological dispersal , abiotic component , geography , biology , population , medicine , pathology , demography , archaeology , sociology
A basic question in vegetation science is – what ecological and evolutionary processes create the patterns that we observe (Fig. 1)? Considerable descriptive information about vegetation structure is available for many regions of the world. Major forces linked to particular vegetation patterns are also known: evolution (availability of regional species pools), dispersal (how organisms reach a location), abiotic (climatic, soil conditions) and biotic (competition, facilitation, parasitism, mutualism) factors. However, the question of how these mechanisms interact to shape vegetation patterns remains largely open. This question becomes increasingly relevant as novel ecosystems emerge, native species change their ranges and alien species arrive, establish and become dominant, having profound impacts on a range of ecosystem functions and ecosystem services. This is the context in which the 56th Annual Symposium of the International Association for Vegetation Science (IAVS), ‘Vegetation patterns and their underlying processes’, was held at the University of Tartu, Estonia, on 26–30 June 2013 (Fig. 2). The meeting attracted over 450 participants from 41 countries.