From plant traits to vegetation structure : chance and selection in the assembly of ecological communities / Bill Shipley.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Playing with loaded dice -- Population-based models of community assembly -- Trait-based community ecology -- Modeling trait-based environmental filters: Bayesian statistics, information theory and the maximum entropy formalism -- Community dynamics, natural selection and the origin of community-aggregated traits -- Community assembly during a Mediterranean succession -- The statistical mechanics of species abundance distributions -- Epilogue: traits are not enough.

"Plant community ecology has traditionally taken a taxonomical approach based on population dynamics. This book contrasts such an approach with a trait-based approach. After reviewing these two approaches, it then explains how models based on the Maximum Entropy Formalism can be used to predict the relative abundance of different species from a potential species pool. Following this it shows how the trait constraints, upon which the model is based, are necessary consequences of natural selection and population dynamics. The final sections of the book extend the discussion to macroecological patterns of species abundance and concludes with some outstanding unresolved questions."--Balogh International.

Print version record.

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