Professor Thomas J. Givnish

Botany 801 – Advanced Plant Community Ecology Spring 2006
Professor Thomas J. Givnish (315 Birge Hall). Plant ecology, evolution, and adaptation; community ecology; molecular evolution and adaptive radiation • 262-5718 • givnish@facstaff.wisc.edu Teaching Assistant Stephanie McFarlane (342 Birge Hall). Ecology and evolution of community structure • 265-4523 • mcfarlane@wisc.edu _________________________________________________________________________________________________ Course Objectives \| Reading List \| Instructor \| TA \| Learn@UW INTRODUCTION Jan. 17 Historical aims of plant community ecology 19 Ecological and evolutionary processes structuring communities 24 Local and regional competition 26 Fugitive species, metapopulation dynamics, lottery models 31 Predation and mutualism Feb. 2 Apparent competition, multi-trophic level interactions ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES and PHYSIOGNOMY 7 Plant strategies: the Grime perspective 9 Plant strategies: the Tilman and Westoby perspectives 14 Economics of gas exchange, support, and biotic interactions 16 Tundra and treelines – constraints on plant height and growth form 21 Boreal forests and bogs: significance of evergreenness 23 Boreal forests and bogs: Sphagnum, ombrotrophy, and landscape dynamics 28 Temperate deciduous forests: phenological adaptations and constraints in understory herbs Mar. 2 Temperate deciduous forests: determinants of shade tolerance, successional trends 7 Tropical forests: evolution of anti-herbivore defenses COMMUNITY COMPOSITION 9 Debate over the community concept: Clements and Gleason, Curtis and Whittaker 21 Gradient analysis: spatial trends in community composition and structure 23 Community classification and ordination Ordination via PC-ORD – lab hours to be arranged COMMUNITY DYNAMICS 28 Succession and climax 30 Gap-phase dynamics: the importance of temporal and spatial scale Apr. 4 Landscape dynamics 6 Fire ecology 8-15 FIELD TRIP: Clifty Falls State Park (IN), Great Smoky Mountains National Park (TN), Cedars of Lebanon State Park (TN) Apr. 18 Positive and negative feedbacks and the generation of pattern Apr. 20 Nutrient dynamics and ecosystem function 21 LAB: Noe Woods succession SPECIES DIVERSITY 25 Trends in diversity along environmental gradients: tropical rain forests, temperate forests, Mediterranean scrub 27 Determinants of species richness: speciation, resource partitioning May 2 Determinants of species richness: local immigration-extinction dynamics, natural enemies 4 Ecological effects of species richness ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Course objectives: Understanding the conceptual bases and empirical approaches used to study trends in the composition, structure, dynamics, and diversity of plant communities. We will read and discuss some of the most important papers in plant community ecology, both classical and the very latest in the modern literature. The course includes a week-long field trip to the Great Smoky Mountains in mid-April, which should provide an opportunity for collaborative research on some current ideas, as well as provide familiarity with one of the most diverse landscapes in eastern North America. Each student will develop a detailed research report on class data collected in the Great Smokies on at Noe Woods, or on a simulation of landscape pattern development in the Florida Everglades (see below). In addition, there will be a lab on ordination (led by Stephanie) and a whole-day field lab on successional dynamics, completing 50 years of data on forest dynamics at Noe Woods. Botany 801 complements several other courses which bear on aspects of plant community ecology: Forestry 550 (Forest Ecology) - which provides, among other things, an excellent background for understanding patterns in community productivity and nutrient cycling; Zoology/Forestry/Botany 665 and 879 (Landscape Ecology and Advanced Landscape Ecology) - which treat the ecological dynamics of spatially structured areas; Botany 802 (Physiological Ecology) - which focuses on the physiological mechanisms that help plants survive and compete successfully in different environments; and Botany 828 (Plant Evolutionary Ecology) - which analyzes other features of plant adaptation (e.g., life-history, reproductive allocation) and genetic variation that influence ecological perform-ance. As the syllabus indicates, Botany 801 focuses on (i) the kaleidoscopic range of ecological interactions within communities; (ii) the context-specific advantages of key traits that help generate trends in community structure and composition; (iii) the study of gradients of community composition, structure, dynamics, and diversity; (iv) selective basis for community trends; and (v) the role of community dynamics in maintaining diversity at the community and landscape level. Readings from the primary research literature will be photocopied and made available for purchase. These papers provide background for the lectures and form the core of the course. We will discuss selected papers during class. Everyone should be ready to discuss the assigned readings – which means reading and thinking about each paper before class, and participating actively in the class discussion. We strongly recommend buying McCune, B., J. B. Grace, and D. L. Urban. 2002. Analysis of ecological communities. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon. This book is available on the web and from a variety of sources; we will NOT be xeroxing the required chapters (see below) for our coverage of direct and indirect gradient analysis. The field trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be held from April 8-15. We will observe a wide range of plant communities, discuss potential reasons for the patterns observed, and collaborate on one or more research projects. Each of us will be responsible for food and housing costs, and for providing suitable camping gear; the University will provide transportation. We will hold a special meeting (probably in the hour before class) a month before leaving to discuss plans and research topics, finalize logistics, and prepare for a singularly enjoyable (and educational!) time. We will also conduct a one-day resurvey of the mapped plots at Noe Woods on April 21. Examinations: A take-home midterm will be issued on Tuesday, March 21, and will be due in class on Tuesday, March 28. The exam will consist of a series of short essay questions. If people’s schedules permit, the final exam will involve an innovative and collaborative approach, tentatively scheduled for the afternoon and evening of May 10. If this approach does not work with everyone’s schedules, a take-home final will be issued on Thursday, May 4 and will be due by 4 pm on Thursday, May 11. Research report. Three options are available: a. You may, individually or in collaboration, analyze data collected by the class in the Great Smoky Mountains and write a report explaining the scientific issues addressed, why they are significant, how they were examined, your results, and the specific and broader conclusions drawn from the study. Reports may focus on any one of the collaborative projects undertaken. Placing the investigation and findings in the context of the current scientific literature is essential. b. Similarly, you may write a report on our joint resampling of Noe Woods. c. You may also, individually or in collaboration with others, write a report based on spatially structured simulations of the factors putatively generating patterned landscapes in the Florida Everglades. If you are interested in this option, please contact Professor Givnish asap, get the PowerPoint presentation on the Everglades, and read Couwenberg 2005 (see below). Research reports are due, without fail, by May 10. Grades are based on class participation (20%), midterm exam (20%), final exam (20%), class project (30%), and project evaluation (10%). ___________________________________________________________________________________________________ Reading List Week 1: Jan 17 – 19 Carpenter, S. R., S. W. Chrisholm, C. J. Krebs, D. W. Schindler, and R. F. Wright. 1995. Ecosystem experiments. Science 269:324-327. Silander, J. A., and J. Antonovics. 1982. Analysis of interspecific interactions in a coastal plant community – a perturbation approach. Nature 298:557-560. Pennings, S. C., and R. M. Callaway. 1992. Salt marsh plant zonation: the relative importance of competition and physical factors. Ecology 73:681-690. Hacker, S. D., and M. D. Bertness. 1999. Experimental evidence for factors maintaining plant species diversity in a New England salt marsh. Ecology 80:2064-2073. Week 2: Jan 24 – 26 Silvertown, J., M. E. Dodd, D. J. G. Gowing, and J. O. Mountford. 1999. Hydrologically defined niches reveal a basis for species richness in plant communities. Nature 400:61-63. Hanski, I. 1998. Metapopulation dynamics. Nature 396:41-49. Thomson, J. D., G. Weiblen, B. A. Thomson, S. Alfaro, and P. Legendre. 1996. Untangling multiple factors in spatial distributions: lilies, gophers, and rocks. Ecology 77:1698-1715. Cavender-Bares, J., K. Kitajima, and F. A. Bazzaz. 2004. Multiple trait associations in relation to habitat differentiation among 17 Floridian oak species. Ecological Monographs 74: 635-662. Week 3: Jan 31 – Feb 2 Danell, K., and L. Ericson. 1990. Dynamic relations between the antler moth and meadow vegetation in northern Sweden. Ecology 71:1068-1077. Knops J. M. H., D. Tilman, N. M. Haddad, S. Naeem, C. E. Mitchell, J. Haarstad, M. E. Ritchie, K. M. Howe, P. B. Reich, E. Siemann, and J. Groth. 1999. Effects of plant species richness on invasion dynamics, disease outbreaks, insect abundances and diversity. Ecology Letters 2:286-293. van der Heijden, M. G. A., J. N. Klironomos, M. Ursic, P. Moutoglis, R. Streitwolf-Engel, T. Boller, A. Wiemken, and I. R. Sanders. 1998. Mycorrhizal fungal diversity determines plant biodiversity, ecosystem variability and productivity. Nature 396:69-72. DeWalt, S. J., J. S. Denslow, and K. Ickes. 2004. Natural-enemy release facilitates habitat expansion of the invasive tropical shrub Clidemia hirta. Ecology 85: 471-483. Week 4: Feb 7 – 9 Grime, J. P. 1979. Plant strategies and vegetation processes. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Chapter 1. Tilman, D. 1988. Plant strategies and the dynamics and structure of plant communities. Princeton University Press, Princeton. Chapter 3. Thompson, K. 1987. The resource ratio hypothesis and the meaning of competition. Functional Ecology 1:297-303. Tilman, D. 1987. On the meaning of competition and the mechanisms of competitive superiority. Functional Ecology 1:304-315. Craine, J. M. 2005. Reconciling plant strategy theories of Grime and Tilman. Journal of Ecology 93: 1041-1052. Week 5: Feb 14 – 16 Givnish, T. J. 1995. Plant stems: biomechanical adaptation for energy capture and influence on species distributions. Pp. 3-49 in B. L. Gartner (ed.), Plant Stems: Physiology and Functional Morphology. Chapman and Hall, New York. Wright, I. J., P. B. Reich, J. H. C. Cornelissen, D. S. Falster, P. K. Groom, K. Hikosaka, W. Lee, C. H. Lusk, U. Niinemets, J. Oleksyn, N. Osada, H. Poorter, D. I. Warton, and M. Westoby. 2005. Modulation of leaf economic traits and trait relationships by climate. Global Ecology and Biogeography 14: 411-421. Givnish, T. J. 2002. On the adaptive significance of evergreen vs. deciduous leaves: solving the triple paradox. Silva Fennica 36: 703-743. Reich, P. B., I. J. Wright, J. Cavender-Bares, J. M. Craine, J. Oleksyn, M. Westoby, and M. B. Walters. 2003. The evolution of plant functional variation: traits, spectra, and strategies. International Journal of Plant Sciences 164: S-143-S164. Givnish, T. J., R. A. Montgomery, and G. Goldstein. 2004. Adaptive radiation of photosynthetic physi-ology in the Hawaiian lobeliads: light regimes, static light responses, and whole-plant compensation points. American Journal of Botany 91: 228-246. Korner, C. 1998. A re-assessment of high elevation treeline positions and their explanation. Oecologia 115:445-459. Week 6: Feb 21 – 23 Choler, P., R. Michalet, and R. M. Callaway. 2001. Facilitation and competition on gradients in alpine plant communities. Ecology 82:3295-3308. Foster, D. R., H. E. Wright, Jr., M. Thelaus, and G. A. King. 1988. Bog development and landform dynamics in central Sweden and south-eastern Labrador, Canada. Journal of Ecology 76:1164-1185. Belyea, L. R., and R. S. Clymo. 2001. Feedback control of the rate of peat formation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Ser B 268:1315-1321. Weltzin, J. F., J. Pastor, C. Harth, S. D. Bridgham, K. Updegraff, and C. T. Chapin. 2000. Response of bog and fen plant communities to warming and water-table manipulations. Ecology 81:3464-3478. Suding, K. N., K. L. Gross, and G. R. Houseman. 2004. Alternative states and positive feedbacks in restoration ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 46-53. Week 7: Feb 28 – Mar 2 Enquist, B. J., and K. J. Niklas. 2001. Invariant scaling relations across tree-dominated communities. Nature 410:655-660. Kobe, R. K., S. W. Pacala, J. A. Silander, and C. D. Canham. 1995. Juvenile tree survivorship as a component of shade tolerance. Ecological Applications 5:517-532. Coley, P. D. 1987. Interspecific variation in plant anti-herbivore properties: the role of habitat quality and rate of disturbance. New Phytologist 106 (Suppl.):251-263. McInnes, P. F., R. J. Naiman, J. Pastor, and Y. Cohen. 1992. Effects of moose browsing on vegetation and litter of the boreal forest, Isle Royale, Michigan, USA. Ecology 73:2059-2075. Week 8: Mar 7 – 9 Gleason, H. A. 1926. The individualistic concept of the plant association. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 53:7-26. Whittaker, R. H. 1956. Vegetation of the Great Smoky Mountains. Ecological Monographs 26:1-80. Daubenmire, R. 1966. Vegetation: identification of typal communities. Science 151:291-298. McCune, B., J. B. Grace, and D. L. Urban. 2002. Analysis of ecological communities. Pp. 102-121; 125-181. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon. Week 9: Mar 21 – 23 McCune, B., and T. F. H. Allen. 1985. Will similar forests develop on similar sites? Canadian Journal of Botany 63:367-376. Minchin, P. R. 1987. An evaluation of the relative robustness of techniques for ecological ordination. Vegetatio 69:89-107. Reed, R. A., R. K. Peet, M. W. Palmer, and P. S. White. 1993. Scale dependence of vegetation-environment correlations: a case study of a North Carolina piedmont woodland. Journal of Vegetation Science 4:329-340. Nekola, J. C., and P. S. White. 1999. The distance decay of similarity in biogeography and ecology. Journal of Biogeography 26:867-878. Week 11: Mar 28 – 30 Watt, A. S. 1947. Pattern and process in the plant community. Journal of Ecology 35:1-22. Donnegan, J. A., and A. J. Rebertus. 1999. Rates and mechanisms of subalpine forest succession along an environmental gradient. Ecology 80:1370-1384. Fastie, C. L. 1995. Causes and ecosystem consequences of multiple pathways of primary succession at Glacier Bay, Alaska. Ecology 76:1899-1916. Turner, M. G., W. L. Baker, C. J. Peterson, and R. K. Peet. 1998. Factors influencing succession: lessons from large, infrequent natural disturbances. Ecosystems 1:511-523. Week 12: Apr 4 – 6 White, P. S., M. D. MacKenzie, and R. T. Busing. 1985. A critique of overstory/understory comparisons based on transition probability analysis of an old growth spruce-fir stand in the Appalachians. Vegetatio 64:37-45. Swetnam, T. W. 1993. Fire history and climate change in giant sequoia groves. Science 262:885-889. Wardle D. A., O. Zackrisson, G. Hörnberg, and C. Gallet. 1997. The influence of island area on ecosystem properties. Science 277:1296-1299. Week 13: Apr 8 – 15 (Great Smoky Mountains field trip) Busing, R. T., P. S. White, and M. D. Mackenzie. 1993. Gradient analysis of old spruce-fir forests of the Great Smoky Mountains circa 1935. Canadian Journal of Botany 71:951-958. Busing, R. T. 1998. Composition, structure and diversity of cove forest stands in the Great Smoky Mountains: a patch dynamics perspective. Journal of Vegetation Science 9:881-890. Clark, J. S., E. Macklin, and L. Wood. 1998. Stages and spatial scales of recruitment limitation in southern Appa-lachian forests. Ecological Monographs 68: 213-235. Wilds, S. P. 1997. Gradient analysis of the distribution of a fungal disease of Cornus florida in the southern Appalachian Mountains, Tennessee. Journal of Vegetation Science 8:811-818. Latham, R. E., and R. E. Ricklefs. 1994. Continental comparisons of temperate-zone tree species diversity. Pp. 294-314 in R. E. Ricklefs and D. Schluter (eds.), Species diversity in ecological communities: historical and geographical perspectives. University of Chicago Press, Chicago. Harrod, J. C., and R. D. White. 1999. Age structure and radial growth in xeric pine-oak forests in western Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 126:139-146 Week 14: Apr 18 – 20 Couwenberg, J. 2005. A simulation model of mire patterning – revisited. Ecography 28: 653-661. Valentin, C., J. M. d’Herbes, and J Poesen. 1999. Soil and water components of banded vegetation patterns. Catena 37:1-24. Elser, J. J., R. W. Sterner, E. Gorokhova, W. F. Fagan, T. A. Markow, J. B. Cotner, J. F. Harrison, S. E. Hobbie, G. M. Odell, and L. J. Weider. 2000. Biological stoichiometry from genes to ecosystems. Ecology Letters 3:540-550. Chadwick, O. A., L. A. Derry, P. M. Vitousek, B. J. Huebert, and L. O. Hedin. 1999. Changing sources of nutrients during four million years of ecosystem development. Nature 397:491-497. Austin, A. T., and P. M. Vitousek. 1998. Nutrient dynamics on a precipitation gradient in Hawai`i. Oecologia 113:519-529. Week 15: Apr 25 – 27 Condit, R., P. S. Ashton, P. Baker, S. Bunyavejchewin, S. Gunatilleke, N. Gunatilleke, S. P. Hubbell, R. B. Foster, A. Itoh, J. V. LaFrankie, H. S. Lee, E. Losos, N. Manokaran, R. Sukumar, and T. Yamakura. 2000. Spatial patterns in the distribution of tropical tree species. Science 288:1414-1418. Molino, J. F, and D. Sabatier. 2001. Tree diversity in tropical rain forests: a validation of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Science 294:1702-1704. Givnish, T. J. 1999. On the causes of gradients in tropical tree diversity. Journal of Ecology 87:193-210. Lambers, J. H. R., J. S. Clark, and B. Beckage. 2002. Density-dependent mortality and the latitudinal gradient in species diversity. Nature 417: 732-735. Tilman, D., R. M. May, C. L. Lehman., and M. A. Nowak. 1994. Habitat destruction and the extinction debt. Nature 371:65-66. Leach, M. K., and T. J. Givnish. 1996. Ecological determinants of species loss in prairie remnants. Science 273:1555-1558. Rooney, T. P., and D. M. Waller. 2003. Direct and indirect effects of white-tailed deer in forest ecosystems. Forest Ecology and Management 181: 165-176. Week 16: May 2 – 4 Crawley, M. J., A. E. Johnston, J. Silvertown, M. Dodd., C. de Mazancourt, M. S. Heard, D. F. Henman, and G. R. Edwards. 2005. Determinants of species richness in the Park Grass experiment. American Naturalist 165: 179-192. Chave, J., H. C. Muller-Landau, and S. A. Levin. 2002. Comparing classical community models: theoretical consequences for patterns of diversity. American Naturalist 159:1-23. Tilman, D., and J. A. Downing. 1994. Biodiversity and stability in grasslands. Nature 367:363-365. Givnish, T. J. 1994. Does diversity beget stability? Nature 371:113-114. Tilman, D., P. B. Reich, J. Knops, D. Wedin, T. Mielke, and C. Lehman. 2001. Diversity and productivity in a long-term grassland experiment. Science 294:843-845. Loreau, M., S. Naeem, P. Inchausti, J. Bengtsson, J. P. Grime, A. Hector, D. U. Hooper, M. A. Huston, D. Raffaelli, B. Schmid, D. Tilman, and D. A. Wardle. 2001. Ecology – biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294:804-808. Botany Department \| Course Syllabus (pdf) © 2006 University of Wisconsin Department of Botany Last updated: 16 January 2006

Botany 801 – Advanced Plant Community Ecology
Spring 2006

Professor Thomas J. Givnish (315 Birge Hall). Plant ecology, evolution, and adaptation; community ecology; molecular evolution and adaptive radiation • 262-5718 • givnish@facstaff.wisc.edu

Teaching Assistant Stephanie McFarlane (342 Birge Hall). Ecology and evolution of community structure • 265-4523 • mcfarlane@wisc.edu

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Course Objectives | Reading List | Instructor | TA | Learn@UW

INTRODUCTION

Jan. 17 Historical aims of plant community ecology

19 Ecological and evolutionary processes structuring communities

24 Local and regional competition

26 Fugitive species, metapopulation dynamics, lottery models

31 Predation and mutualism

Feb. 2 Apparent competition, multi-trophic level interactions

ADAPTIVE STRATEGIES and PHYSIOGNOMY

7 Plant strategies: the Grime perspective

9 Plant strategies: the Tilman and Westoby perspectives

14 Economics of gas exchange, support, and biotic interactions

           16    Tundra and treelines – constraints on plant height and growth form

           21    Boreal forests and bogs: significance of evergreenness
       23    Boreal forests and bogs: Sphagnum, ombrotrophy, and landscape dynamics

       28    Temperate deciduous forests: phenological adaptations and constraints in understory
                         herbs
Mar.    2    Temperate deciduous forests: determinants of shade tolerance, successional trends

       7    Tropical forests: evolution of anti-herbivore defenses

COMMUNITY COMPOSITION

            9    Debate over the community concept: Clements and Gleason, Curtis and
                        Whittaker

           21    Gradient analysis: spatial trends in community composition and structure
       23    Community classification and ordination
                   Ordination via PC-ORD – lab hours to be arranged

COMMUNITY DYNAMICS

          28    Succession and climax
          30    Gap-phase dynamics: the importance of temporal and spatial scale

Apr.    4    Landscape dynamics
          6    Fire ecology

        8-15    FIELD TRIP: Clifty Falls State Park (IN), Great Smoky Mountains
                   National Park (TN), Cedars of Lebanon State Park (TN)

Apr. 18    Positive and negative feedbacks and the generation of pattern
Apr. 20    Nutrient dynamics and ecosystem function
       21    LAB: Noe Woods succession

SPECIES DIVERSITY

          25    Trends in diversity along environmental gradients: tropical rain forests,
                       temperate forests, Mediterranean scrub
          27    Determinants of species richness: speciation, resource partitioning

May   2    Determinants of species richness: local immigration-extinction dynamics,
                       natural enemies
          4   Ecological effects of species richness
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Course objectives: Understanding the conceptual bases and empirical approaches used to study trends in the composition, structure, dynamics, and diversity of plant communities. We will read and discuss some of the most important papers in plant community ecology, both classical and the very latest in the modern literature. The course includes a week-long field trip to the Great Smoky Mountains in mid-April, which should provide an opportunity for collaborative research on some current ideas, as well as provide familiarity with one of the most diverse landscapes in eastern North America. Each student will develop a detailed research report on class data collected in the Great Smokies on at Noe Woods, or on a simulation of landscape pattern development in the Florida Everglades (see below). In addition, there will be a lab on ordination (led by Stephanie) and a whole-day field lab on successional dynamics, completing 50 years of data on forest dynamics at Noe Woods.

Botany 801 complements several other courses which bear on aspects of plant community ecology:

Forestry 550 (Forest Ecology) - which provides, among other things, an excellent background for understanding patterns in community productivity and nutrient cycling;

Zoology/Forestry/Botany 665 and 879 (Landscape Ecology and Advanced Landscape Ecology) - which treat the ecological dynamics of spatially structured areas;

Botany 802 (Physiological Ecology) - which focuses on the physiological mechanisms that help plants survive and compete successfully in different environments; and

Botany 828 (Plant Evolutionary Ecology) - which analyzes other features of plant adaptation (e.g., life-history, reproductive allocation) and genetic variation that influence ecological perform-ance.

As the syllabus indicates, Botany 801 focuses on (i) the kaleidoscopic range of ecological interactions within communities; (ii) the context-specific advantages of key traits that help generate trends in community structure and composition; (iii) the study of gradients of community composition, structure, dynamics, and diversity; (iv) selective basis for community trends; and (v) the role of community dynamics in maintaining diversity at the community and landscape level.

Readings from the primary research literature will be photocopied and made available for purchase. These papers provide background for the lectures and form the core of the course. We will discuss selected papers during class. Everyone should be ready to discuss the assigned readings – which means reading and thinking about each paper before class, and participating actively in the class discussion. We strongly recommend buying McCune, B., J. B. Grace, and D. L. Urban. 2002. Analysis of ecological communities. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon. This book is available on the web and from a variety of sources; we will NOT be xeroxing the required chapters (see below) for our coverage of direct and indirect gradient analysis.

The field trip to Great Smoky Mountains National Park will be held from April 8-15. We will observe a wide range of plant communities, discuss potential reasons for the patterns observed, and collaborate on one or more research projects. Each of us will be responsible for food and housing costs, and for providing suitable camping gear; the University will provide transportation. We will hold a special meeting (probably in the hour before class) a month before leaving to discuss plans and research topics, finalize logistics, and prepare for a singularly enjoyable (and educational!) time. We will also conduct a one-day resurvey of the mapped plots at Noe Woods on April 21.

Examinations: A take-home midterm will be issued on Tuesday, March 21, and will be due in class on Tuesday, March 28. The exam will consist of a series of short essay questions. If people’s schedules permit, the final exam will involve an innovative and collaborative approach, tentatively scheduled for the afternoon and evening of May 10. If this approach does not work with everyone’s schedules, a take-home final will be issued on Thursday, May 4 and will be due by 4 pm on Thursday, May 11.

Research report. Three options are available:

a. You may, individually or in collaboration, analyze data collected by the class in the Great Smoky Mountains and write a report explaining the scientific issues addressed, why they are significant, how they were examined, your results, and the specific and broader conclusions drawn from the study. Reports may focus on any one of the collaborative projects undertaken. Placing the investigation and findings in the context of the current scientific literature is essential.
b. Similarly, you may write a report on our joint resampling of Noe Woods.
c. You may also, individually or in collaboration with others, write a report based on spatially structured simulations of the factors putatively generating patterned landscapes in the Florida Everglades. If you are interested in this option, please contact Professor Givnish asap, get the PowerPoint presentation on the Everglades, and read Couwenberg 2005 (see below).

Research reports are due, without fail, by May 10.

Grades are based on class participation (20%), midterm exam (20%), final exam (20%), class project (30%), and project evaluation (10%).
___________________________________________________________________________________________________

Reading List

Week 1:    Jan 17 – 19

Carpenter, S. R., S. W. Chrisholm, C. J. Krebs, D. W. Schindler, and R. F. Wright. 1995. Ecosystem experiments. Science 269:324-327.
Silander, J. A., and J. Antonovics. 1982. Analysis of interspecific interactions in a coastal plant community – a perturbation approach. Nature 298:557-560.

Pennings, S. C., and R. M. Callaway. 1992. Salt marsh plant zonation: the relative importance of competition and physical factors. Ecology 73:681-690.

Hacker, S. D., and M. D. Bertness. 1999. Experimental evidence for factors maintaining plant species diversity in a New England salt marsh. Ecology 80:2064-2073.

Week 2:    Jan 24 – 26

Silvertown, J., M. E. Dodd, D. J. G. Gowing, and J. O. Mountford. 1999. Hydrologically defined niches reveal a basis for species richness in plant communities. Nature 400:61-63.

Hanski, I. 1998. Metapopulation dynamics. Nature 396:41-49.

Thomson, J. D., G. Weiblen, B. A. Thomson, S. Alfaro, and P. Legendre. 1996. Untangling multiple factors in spatial distributions: lilies, gophers, and rocks. Ecology 77:1698-1715.

Cavender-Bares, J., K. Kitajima, and F. A. Bazzaz. 2004. Multiple trait associations in relation to habitat differentiation among 17 Floridian oak species. Ecological Monographs 74: 635-662.

Week 3:    Jan 31 – Feb 2

Danell, K., and L. Ericson. 1990. Dynamic relations between the antler moth and meadow vegetation in northern Sweden. Ecology 71:1068-1077.

Knops J. M. H., D. Tilman, N. M. Haddad, S. Naeem, C. E. Mitchell, J. Haarstad, M. E. Ritchie, K. M. Howe, P. B. Reich, E. Siemann, and J. Groth. 1999. Effects of plant species richness on invasion dynamics, disease outbreaks, insect abundances and diversity. Ecology Letters 2:286-293.
van der Heijden, M. G. A., J. N. Klironomos, M. Ursic, P. Moutoglis, R. Streitwolf-Engel, T. Boller, A. Wiemken, and I. R. Sanders. 1998. Mycorrhizal fungal diversity determines plant biodiversity, ecosystem variability and productivity. Nature 396:69-72.

DeWalt, S. J., J. S. Denslow, and K. Ickes. 2004. Natural-enemy release facilitates habitat expansion of the invasive tropical shrub Clidemia hirta. Ecology 85: 471-483.

Week 4:    Feb 7 – 9

Grime, J. P. 1979. Plant strategies and vegetation processes. John Wiley & Sons, New York. Chapter 1.

Tilman, D. 1988. Plant strategies and the dynamics and structure of plant communities. Princeton University Press, Princeton. Chapter 3.

Thompson, K. 1987. The resource ratio hypothesis and the meaning of competition. Functional Ecology 1:297-303.

Tilman, D. 1987. On the meaning of competition and the mechanisms of competitive superiority. Functional Ecology 1:304-315.

Craine, J. M. 2005. Reconciling plant strategy theories of Grime and Tilman. Journal of Ecology 93: 1041-1052.

Week 5:    Feb 14 – 16

Givnish, T. J. 1995. Plant stems: biomechanical adaptation for energy capture and influence on species distributions. Pp. 3-49 in B. L. Gartner (ed.), Plant Stems: Physiology and Functional Morphology. Chapman and Hall, New York.

Wright, I. J., P. B. Reich, J. H. C. Cornelissen, D. S. Falster, P. K. Groom, K. Hikosaka, W. Lee, C. H. Lusk, U. Niinemets, J. Oleksyn, N. Osada, H. Poorter, D. I. Warton, and M. Westoby. 2005. Modulation of leaf economic traits and trait relationships by climate. Global Ecology and Biogeography 14: 411-421.

Givnish, T. J. 2002. On the adaptive significance of evergreen vs. deciduous leaves: solving the triple paradox. Silva Fennica 36: 703-743.

Reich, P. B., I. J. Wright, J. Cavender-Bares, J. M. Craine, J. Oleksyn, M. Westoby, and M. B. Walters. 2003. The evolution of plant functional variation: traits, spectra, and strategies. International Journal of Plant Sciences 164: S-143-S164.

Givnish, T. J., R. A. Montgomery, and G. Goldstein. 2004. Adaptive radiation of photosynthetic physi-ology in the Hawaiian lobeliads: light regimes, static light responses, and whole-plant compensation points. American Journal of Botany 91: 228-246.

Korner, C. 1998. A re-assessment of high elevation treeline positions and their explanation. Oecologia 115:445-459.

Week 6:    Feb 21 – 23

Choler, P., R. Michalet, and R. M. Callaway. 2001. Facilitation and competition on gradients in alpine plant communities. Ecology 82:3295-3308.

Foster, D. R., H. E. Wright, Jr., M. Thelaus, and G. A. King. 1988. Bog development and landform dynamics in central Sweden and south-eastern Labrador, Canada. Journal of Ecology 76:1164-1185.

Belyea, L. R., and R. S. Clymo. 2001. Feedback control of the rate of peat formation. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, Ser B 268:1315-1321.

Weltzin, J. F., J. Pastor, C. Harth, S. D. Bridgham, K. Updegraff, and C. T. Chapin. 2000. Response of bog and fen plant communities to warming and water-table manipulations. Ecology 81:3464-3478.

Suding, K. N., K. L. Gross, and G. R. Houseman. 2004. Alternative states and positive feedbacks in restoration ecology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 19: 46-53.

Week 7:    Feb 28 – Mar 2

Enquist, B. J., and K. J. Niklas. 2001. Invariant scaling relations across tree-dominated communities. Nature 410:655-660.

Kobe, R. K., S. W. Pacala, J. A. Silander, and C. D. Canham. 1995. Juvenile tree survivorship as a component of shade tolerance. Ecological Applications 5:517-532.

Coley, P. D. 1987. Interspecific variation in plant anti-herbivore properties: the role of habitat quality and rate of disturbance. New Phytologist 106 (Suppl.):251-263.

McInnes, P. F., R. J. Naiman, J. Pastor, and Y. Cohen. 1992. Effects of moose browsing on vegetation and litter of the boreal forest, Isle Royale, Michigan, USA. Ecology 73:2059-2075.

Week 8:    Mar 7 – 9

Gleason, H. A. 1926. The individualistic concept of the plant association. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club 53:7-26.

Whittaker, R. H. 1956. Vegetation of the Great Smoky Mountains. Ecological Monographs 26:1-80.

Daubenmire, R. 1966. Vegetation: identification of typal communities. Science 151:291-298.

McCune, B., J. B. Grace, and D. L. Urban. 2002. Analysis of ecological communities. Pp. 102-121; 125-181. MjM Software Design, Gleneden Beach, Oregon.

Week 9:    Mar 21 – 23

McCune, B., and T. F. H. Allen. 1985. Will similar forests develop on similar sites? Canadian Journal of Botany 63:367-376.

Minchin, P. R. 1987. An evaluation of the relative robustness of techniques for ecological ordination. Vegetatio 69:89-107.

Reed, R. A., R. K. Peet, M. W. Palmer, and P. S. White. 1993. Scale dependence of vegetation-environment correlations: a case study of a North Carolina piedmont woodland. Journal of Vegetation Science 4:329-340.

Nekola, J. C., and P. S. White. 1999. The distance decay of similarity in biogeography and ecology. Journal of Biogeography 26:867-878.

Week 11:    Mar 28 – 30

Watt, A. S. 1947. Pattern and process in the plant community. Journal of Ecology 35:1-22.

Donnegan, J. A., and A. J. Rebertus. 1999. Rates and mechanisms of subalpine forest succession along an environmental gradient. Ecology 80:1370-1384.

Fastie, C. L. 1995. Causes and ecosystem consequences of multiple pathways of primary succession at Glacier Bay, Alaska. Ecology 76:1899-1916.

Turner, M. G., W. L. Baker, C. J. Peterson, and R. K. Peet. 1998. Factors influencing succession: lessons from large, infrequent natural disturbances. Ecosystems 1:511-523.

Week 12:    Apr 4 – 6

White, P. S., M. D. MacKenzie, and R. T. Busing. 1985. A critique of overstory/understory comparisons based on transition probability analysis of an old growth spruce-fir stand in the Appalachians. Vegetatio 64:37-45.

Swetnam, T. W. 1993. Fire history and climate change in giant sequoia groves. Science 262:885-889.

Wardle D. A., O. Zackrisson, G. Hörnberg, and C. Gallet. 1997. The influence of island area on ecosystem properties. Science 277:1296-1299.

Week 13:    Apr 8 – 15 (Great Smoky Mountains field trip)

Busing, R. T., P. S. White, and M. D. Mackenzie. 1993. Gradient analysis of old spruce-fir forests of the Great Smoky Mountains circa 1935. Canadian Journal of Botany 71:951-958.

Busing, R. T. 1998. Composition, structure and diversity of cove forest stands in the Great Smoky Mountains: a patch dynamics perspective. Journal of Vegetation Science 9:881-890.

Clark, J. S., E. Macklin, and L. Wood. 1998. Stages and spatial scales of recruitment limitation in southern Appa-lachian forests. Ecological Monographs 68: 213-235.

Wilds, S. P. 1997. Gradient analysis of the distribution of a fungal disease of Cornus florida in the southern Appalachian Mountains, Tennessee. Journal of Vegetation Science 8:811-818.

Latham, R. E., and R. E. Ricklefs. 1994. Continental comparisons of temperate-zone tree species diversity. Pp. 294-314 in R. E. Ricklefs and D. Schluter (eds.), Species diversity in ecological communities: historical and geographical perspectives. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

Harrod, J. C., and R. D. White. 1999. Age structure and radial growth in xeric pine-oak forests in western Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 126:139-146

Week 14:    Apr 18 – 20

Couwenberg, J. 2005. A simulation model of mire patterning – revisited. Ecography 28: 653-661.

Valentin, C., J. M. d’Herbes, and J Poesen. 1999. Soil and water components of banded vegetation patterns. Catena 37:1-24.

Elser, J. J., R. W. Sterner, E. Gorokhova, W. F. Fagan, T. A. Markow, J. B. Cotner, J. F. Harrison, S. E. Hobbie, G. M. Odell, and L. J. Weider. 2000. Biological stoichiometry from genes to ecosystems. Ecology Letters 3:540-550.

Chadwick, O. A., L. A. Derry, P. M. Vitousek, B. J. Huebert, and L. O. Hedin. 1999. Changing sources of nutrients during four million years of ecosystem development. Nature 397:491-497.

Austin, A. T., and P. M. Vitousek. 1998. Nutrient dynamics on a precipitation gradient in Hawai`i. Oecologia 113:519-529.

Week 15:    Apr 25 – 27

Condit, R., P. S. Ashton, P. Baker, S. Bunyavejchewin, S. Gunatilleke, N. Gunatilleke, S. P. Hubbell, R. B. Foster, A. Itoh, J. V. LaFrankie, H. S. Lee, E. Losos, N. Manokaran, R. Sukumar, and T. Yamakura. 2000. Spatial patterns in the distribution of tropical tree species. Science 288:1414-1418.

Molino, J. F, and D. Sabatier. 2001. Tree diversity in tropical rain forests: a validation of the intermediate disturbance hypothesis. Science 294:1702-1704.

Givnish, T. J. 1999. On the causes of gradients in tropical tree diversity. Journal of Ecology 87:193-210.

Lambers, J. H. R., J. S. Clark, and B. Beckage. 2002. Density-dependent mortality and the latitudinal gradient in species diversity. Nature 417: 732-735.

Tilman, D., R. M. May, C. L. Lehman., and M. A. Nowak. 1994. Habitat destruction and the extinction debt. Nature 371:65-66.

Leach, M. K., and T. J. Givnish. 1996. Ecological determinants of species loss in prairie remnants. Science 273:1555-1558.

Rooney, T. P., and D. M. Waller. 2003. Direct and indirect effects of white-tailed deer in forest ecosystems. Forest Ecology and Management 181: 165-176.

Week 16:    May 2 – 4

Crawley, M. J., A. E. Johnston, J. Silvertown, M. Dodd., C. de Mazancourt, M. S. Heard, D. F. Henman, and G. R. Edwards. 2005. Determinants of species richness in the Park Grass experiment. American Naturalist 165: 179-192.

Chave, J., H. C. Muller-Landau, and S. A. Levin. 2002. Comparing classical community models: theoretical consequences for patterns of diversity. American Naturalist 159:1-23.

Tilman, D., and J. A. Downing. 1994. Biodiversity and stability in grasslands. Nature 367:363-365.

Givnish, T. J. 1994. Does diversity beget stability? Nature 371:113-114.

Tilman, D., P. B. Reich, J. Knops, D. Wedin, T. Mielke, and C. Lehman. 2001. Diversity and productivity in a long-term grassland experiment. Science 294:843-845.

Loreau, M., S. Naeem, P. Inchausti, J. Bengtsson, J. P. Grime, A. Hector, D. U. Hooper, M. A. Huston, D. Raffaelli, B. Schmid, D. Tilman, and D. A. Wardle. 2001. Ecology – biodiversity and ecosystem functioning: current knowledge and future challenges. Science 294:804-808.

Botany Department | Course Syllabus (pdf)