Plant Ecology in a Changing World

Today global changes and human activities affect plants within each of the world’s ecosystems. Plant Ecology in a Changing World provides a foundation for understanding how the changes underway impact structure and function in the world’s major biomes, while also describing how evolution has resulted in the biochemical, physiological, structural, and life history features that shaped plants and their capacities to persist across widely contrasting environments. This textbook is designed for undergraduate students and as well to serve as a resource for climate change and ecosystem scientists seeking a foundation on the principles of plant ecology and the basis of plant adaptations. While many textbooks focus primarily on natural ecosystems, Plant Ecology in a Changing World also recognizes the ecological importance of invasive, managed, and urban ecosystems and of the ways in which ecosystems are already being impacted by both human activities and a warming planet. Key features: Replete with 450+ figures that help to elucidate concepts and charts to clearly present key data Boxes within chapters allow those who wish to delve into more advanced aspects of topics and of those key methodological approaches used to quantify processes Highlights of key plant ecologists and of their contributions Each chapter concludes with a bulleted summary, enabling students to recap the key points of the chapter Each chapter comes with both a list of references, as well as with suggested readings, allowing the student to expand their knowledge on a particular topic