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Vegetation history pp 43–76Cite as

Data analysis and display

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Part of the book series: Handbook of vegetation science ((HAVS,volume 7))

Abstract

During the first half of this century, the frame of reference for understanding vegetation was a stable or constant plant community — the climax — which developed in the absence of disturbance and which was dependent upon only climate. Ecologists recognized that such stable communities were seldom achieved. Most communities were in various successional stages, which nevertheless were thought to be trending towards the climax. So at least an ecologist knew where the vegetation was going even if it was not there. An underlying assumption of this model was constancy of climate. The more recent realization that climate is always changing greatly diminishes the value of this conceptual model for understanding vegetation (Davis, 1986). Vegetation as it grows today is the instantaneous state of a system responding to processes operating on various time and space scales. Populations are expanding, contracting, and migrating, often slowly, but at times rapidly. These changes in populations are key for understanding vegetation and are strongly influenced by historical events. A historical perspective is critical for interpreting such important dynamical properties of communities as (1) whether communities are in equilibrium or disequilibrium, (2) whether they are constant, stable, and persistent, and (3) whether their composition and diversity are determined by local, regional, or global processes (Grimm, 1984; Chesson and Case, 1986; Ricklefs, 1987).

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Authors
  1. Eric C. Grimm
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botony, Science Laboratories, University of Durham, South Road, Durham, DH1 3LE, England

    B. Huntley

  2. Department of Geological Sciences, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, 02912-1846, USA

    T. Webb III

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Grimm, E.C. (1988). Data analysis and display. In: Huntley, B., Webb, T. (eds) Vegetation history. Handbook of vegetation science, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3081-0_3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3081-0_3

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