ISSN:
1573-5052
Keywords:
Calluna vulgaris
;
Defoliation
;
Deschampsia flexuosa
;
Lochmaea suturalis
;
Logistic regression analysis, Soil type
;
Transition probability
Source:
Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
Topics:
Biology
Notes:
Abstract This paper discusses the transition from heather-dominated vegetation to one dominated by grass. The dominating species involved are Calluna vulgaris and Deschampsia flexuosa. The study covered three years, 1980–82, and was done at the Hoorneboeg heathland in the Netherlands. Several factors account for this transition: damage caused by the chrysomelid heather beetle Lochmaea suturalis Thomson, soil type, and interaction between beetle damage and Deschampsia when already present underneath or in the immediate vicinity of a Calluna canopy. There was a time-lag between beetle damage and grass establishment or expansion. In fact, this transition concerns a type of vegetation succession and can be treated as such. This succession therefore involves several causative factors external to the system Calluna-Deschampsia. The successional process is conceived as a stochastic one defined by transition probabilities which depend on a time component, a space component and a logistic response component. All these components are discussed in this paper, but the discussion of yet another component, the crowding of Deschampsia itself, will be treated separately.
Type of Medium:
Electronic Resource
URL:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF00039838
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