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Shrub architecture and occupation of space in a Mediterranean sclerophyllous shrubland
Author(s) -
Guillén Dolores F.,
Heras Paloma,
Herrera Pedro,
Pineda Francisco D.
Publication year - 1994
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.2307/3235976
Subject(s) - shrubland , shrub , sclerophyll , spatial ecology , principal component analysis , ecology , geography , biomass (ecology) , plant community , mediterranean climate , biology , ecological succession , mathematics , ecosystem , statistics
. Shrubland communities in Central Spain were studied through classifying growth forms of woody species and determining the shared use of the ground in progressively smaller spaces. 516 plants belonging to the six most abundant species and taken from different sites were included in biometric measurements. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was used to detect the trends of variation in the architecture of plants. The individuals were classified on the basis of the results of the PCA and different morphological types were detected, mainly ‘elliptical’, ‘spherical’or ‘variable’according to their shape. These morphological types were adopted by most plants depending on their location and community. The horizontal occupation of space seems to be determined by whether or not the species rooted close to each other are able to occupy different strata. The co‐occurrence of two species in a reduced space is not facilitated when the two species have the same architecture. Then a spatial segregation tends to occur at a fine scale. The results can be interpreted as an optimization strategy of the shrubland ‘biomass/horizontal occupied area ratio’, which can be maximized in different environmental situations. It can also help to explain the ‘grain’ size of the pattern of horizontal spatial organization of the shrubland.