Covering ideas on the nature and causes of temporal change in the species composition of vegetation, this book examines in particular the diverse processes of interaction of plants with their environment and with one another, through which the species composition of vegetation becomes established. Areas covered range from the tropics to sub-polar regions and from sea shores, through deserts, grasslands and forests to alpine regions. The text focuses on the nature of reciprocal interaction between plants and their habitats and other organisms; outlines events that occur during the colonization of new sites and consequent modifications of habitat; explores long-term consequences of change, using chrono-sequences and fossil data from wetland sites; and considers cyclical replacement sequences, direct replacements and fluctuations in the context of short-term and long-term change.
The theme of this book is the invasion of land by animal lines which originated in aquatic environments. It brings together physiological and ecological evidence to show both the likely routes taken out of the sea by the aquatic ancestors of terrestrial animals and the changes in structure and function associated with these routes. The author takes an ecophysiological approach, and by using representative examples, provides a novel background against which both the terrestrial adaptations of individual species and the make up and function of terrestrial ecosystems can be considered. Dr Little is the author of the highly acclaimed book The Colonisation of Land, which discusses the phylogeny and physiology of terrestrial and semi-terrestrial animals. The Terrestrial Invasion takes a fresh approach and provides an excellent introduction to the origins of land animals suitable for ecologists, physiologists and evolutionary biologists.
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