Processes of Vegetation Change

1. Front Matter

   Pages iii-xix

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2. The nature of vegetation and kinds of vegetation change

   • Colin J. Burrows

   Pages 1-22

3. Plants and their abiotic environment

   • Colin J. Burrows

   Pages 23-73

4. Plants and their biotic environment

   • Colin J. Burrows

   Pages 74-122

5. Vegetation development on volcanic ejecta

   • Colin J. Burrows

   Pages 123-148

6. Vegetation development on sand dunes

   • Colin J. Burrows

   Pages 149-168

7. Vegetation development on glacial deposits

   • Colin J. Burrows

   Pages 169-206

8. Influences of strong environmental pressures

   • Colin J. Burrows

   Pages 207-268

9. Patterns of vegetation change in wetlands

   • Colin J. Burrows

   Pages 269-297

10. Changes in some temperate forests after disturbance

    • Colin J. Burrows

    Pages 298-329

11. Changes in some tropical forests

    • Colin J. Burrows

    Pages 330-358

12. Processes of vegetation change

    • Colin J. Burrows

    Pages 359-419

13. Community phenomena in vegetation change

    • Colin J. Burrows

    Pages 420-464

14. On the theory of vegetation change

    • Colin J. Burrows

    Pages 465-489

15. Back Matter

    Pages 490-551

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This book is about ideas on the nature and causes of temporal change in the species composition of vegetation. In particular it examines the diverse processes of inter­ action of plants with their environment, and with one another, through which the species composition of vegetation becomes established. The first chapter considers the general nature of vegetation and the ways in which vegetation change is perceived by ecologists. Chapters 2 and 3 provide essential background about the relationships between plants and their abiotic and biotic environment. Anyone who is familiar with the fundamentals of plant ecology may prefer to pass over Chapters 2 and 3 which, of necessity, cover their subject matter very briefly. Sequences of development of vegetation on new volcanic rocks, sand dunes and glacial deposits, respectively, are outlined in Chapters 4, 5 and 6. Chapter 7 is about the patterns of vegetation change which occur in severe habitats around the world, and Chapter 8 discusses wetlands. Chapter 9 discusses the diverse responses of temperate forests to a variety of disturbing influences, and Chapter 10 deals with change in the species-rich forests of the Tropics. Chapter 11 treats, in detail, the empirical and inferential data on the biological processes occurring during vegetation change sequences. Chapter 12 considers the plant community phenomena which are implicated in the development of theory about vegetation change. The final chapter, Chapter 13, draws the diverse themes together into a unified theoretical structure by which the vegetation change phenomena may be understood.

• classification
• desert
• ecology
• ecosystem
• environment
• forest
• lake
• tropical forests
• vegetation
• wetland

This is a very readable, straightforward, open-minded account - The Biologist

• Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences, University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand

  Colin J. Burrows

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