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Plant Life-Forms and Tropical Ecosystem Functioning

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Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Tropical Forests

Part of the book series: Ecological Studies ((ECOLSTUD,volume 122))

Abstract

Life-form was said by Warming (1909) to represent the sum of adaptive characters in a species, and thus is an expression of the harmony between a plant and its environment. This colorful perspective, although too broad to be useful in classification, does highlight the essential point that life-form groupings should be ecologically relevant.

Structure without function is a corpse; function sans structure is a ghost. (Vogel 1972)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, University of Florida, Gainsville, Florida, 32611, USA

    John J. Ewel & Seth W. Bigelow

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  1. John J. Ewel
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  2. Seth W. Bigelow
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Zoology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 98195, USA

    Gordon H. Orians

  2. Centro de Ecología, Univesidad Nacional Autónoma de México, AP 70-275, 04510, México D.F., México

    Rodolfo Dirzo

  3. Dept. of Biology, Sonoma State University, Rohnert Park, CA, 94928, USA

    J. Hall Cushman

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Ewel, J.J., Bigelow, S.W. (1996). Plant Life-Forms and Tropical Ecosystem Functioning. In: Orians, G.H., Dirzo, R., Cushman, J.H. (eds) Biodiversity and Ecosystem Processes in Tropical Forests. Ecological Studies, vol 122. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79755-2_6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79755-2_6

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