Ecological communities: Conceptual problems and definitions

Perspectives in Plant Ecology, Evolution and Systematics

Volumn 2, Issue 2, 1999, Pages 210-222

  Looijen, Rick C ^a   Van Andel, Jelte ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF GRONINGEN   (Netherlands)

Author keywords

Biocoenosis; Boundary problem; Community definition; Heterogeneity; Species interactions

Indexed keywords

BIOCOENOSIS; COMMUNITY COMPOSITION; THEORETICAL STUDY;

EID: 0033396175     PISSN: 14338319     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1078/1433-8319-00071     Document Type: Article

References (58)

1. Allen, T.F.H. & Hoekstra, T.W. (1992) Toward a Unified Ecology. Columbia University Press, New York.
2. Austin, M.P. (1990) Community theory and competition in vegetation. Perspectives in Plant Competition (eds. J.B. Grace & D. Tilman), pp. 215-233. Academic Press, New York.
3. Begon, M., Harper, J.L. & Townsend, C.R. (1996) Ecology: Individuals, Populations and Communities. Blackwell Science, Oxford.
4. Braun-Blanquet, J. (1964) Pflanzensoziologie. Springer, Berlin.
5. Bröring, U. & Wiegleb, G. (1998) Pattern and process of succession in relation to ecological orientors. Eco Targets, Goal Functions, and Orientors (eds. F. Müller & M. Leupelt), pp. 34-62. Springer, New York.
6. Clements, F.E. (1916) Plant Succession. Carnegie Inst., Washington.
7. Cohen, J.E. (1989) Food webs and community structure. Perspectives in Ecological Theory (eds. J. Roughgarden, R.M. May & S.A. Levin), pp. 181-202. Princeton University Press, Princeton.
8. Colinvaux, P. (1986) Ecology. John Wiley and Sons, New York.
9. Collier, B.D., Cox, G.W., Johnson, A.W. & Miller, P.C. (1973) Dynamic Ecology. Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliffs.
10. Cowles, H.C. (1901) The physiographic ecology of Chicago and vicinity; a study of the origin, development, and classification of plant societies. Botanical Gazette, 31, 73-108, 145-182.
11. Curtis, J.T. (1959) The Vegetation of Wisconsin. University of Wisconsin Press, Madison.
12. Diamond, J. & Case, T.J. (1986) Community Ecology. Harper and Row, New York.
13. Di Castri, F., Hansen, A.J. & Holland, M.M. (1988) A new look at ecotones. Emerging international projects on landscape boundaries. Biology International (Special Issue), 17, 1-163.
14. Ehrlich, P.R. & Roughgarden, J. (1987) The Science of Ecology. Macmillan, New York.
15. Gleason, H.A. (1926) The individualistic concept of the plant association. Bulletin of the Torrey Botanical Club, 53, 7-26.
16. Gleason, H.A. (1939) The individualistic concept of the plant association. American Midland Naturalist, 21, 92-110.
17. Grootjans, A.P., Fresco, L.F.M., De Leeuw, C.C. & Schipper, P.C. (1996) Degeneration of species-rich Calthion palustris hay meadows; some considerations on the community concept. Journal of Vegetation Science, 7, 185-194.
18. Hanson, H.C. (1962) Dictionary of Ecology. Philosophical Library, New York.
19. Jax, K., Jones, C.G. & Picket, S.T.A. (1998) The self-identity of ecological units. Oikos, 82, 253-264.
20. Keddy, P. (1993) Do ecological communities exist? A reply to Bastow Wilson. Journal of Vegetation Science, 4, 135-136.
21. Krebs, C.J. (1994) Ecology: the Experimental Analysis of Distribution and Abundance. Harper and Row, New York.
22. Lederer, R.J. (1984) Ecology and Field Biology. Benjamin/Cummings, Menlo Park.
23. Londo, G. (1971) Pattern and process in dune-valley vegetations in a sunk lake in the Kennemerduinen. PhD thesis, University of Nijmegen.
24. Looijen, R.C. (1995) On the distinction between habitat and niche, and some implications for species' differentiation. Poznan Studies in the Philosophy of the Sciences and the Humanities, 45, 87-108.
25. Looijen, R.C. (1998) Holism and reductionism in biology and ecology: the mutual dependence of higher and lower level research programmes. PhD thesis, University of Groningen.
26. MacMahon, J.A., Schimpf, D.J., Andersen, D.C., Smith, K.G. & Bayn Jr., R.L. (1981) An organism-centered approach to some community and ecosystem concepts. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 88, 287-307.
27. Mahner, M. & Bunge, M. (1997) Foundations of Biophilosophy. Springer, Berlin.
28. McCoy, D., Bell, S.S. & Walters, K. (1986) Identifying biotic boundaries along environmental gradients. Ecology, 67, 749-759.
29. McIntosh, R.P. (1985) The Background of Ecology: Concept and Theory. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
30. McNaughton, S.J. & Wolf, L.L. (1973) General Ecology. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York.
31. Mirkin, B.M. (1994) Which plant communities do exist? Journal of Vegetation Science, 5, 283-284.
32. Müller-Dombois, D. & Ellenberg, H. (1974) Aims and Methods of Vegetation Ecology. Wiley, New York.
33. Naiman, R.J., Décamps, H., Pastor, D. & Johnston, C.A. (1988) The potential importance of boundaries to fluvial ecosystems. Journal of the North American Benthological Society, 7, 289-306.
34. Odum, E.P. (1963) Ecology. Holt, Rinehart & Winston, New York.
35. Palmer, M.W. & White, P.S. (1994) On the existence of ecological communities. Journal of Vegetation Science, 5, 279-282.
36. Pielou, E.C. (1974) Population and Community Ecology: Principles and Methods. Gordon & Breach, New York.
37. Raunkiaer, C. (1934) The Life Form of Plants and Statistical Plant Geography. Clarendon Press, London.
38. Ricklefs, R.E. (1973) Ecology. Chiron, Newton.
39. Shrader-Frechette, K.S. & McCoy, E.D. (1993) Method in Ecology: Strategies for Conservation. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
40. Shelford, V.E. (1963) The Ecology of North America. University of Illinois Press, Urbana.
41. Simberloff, D.S. (1980) A succession of paradigms in ecology. Conceptual Issues in Ecology (ed. E. Saarinen), pp. 63-100. Reidel, Dordrecht.
42. Tansley, A.G. (1935) The use and abuse of vegetational concepts and terms. Ecology, 16, 284-307.
43. Van Andel, J., Bakker, J.P. & Grootjans, A.P. (1993) Mechanisms of succession: a review of concepts and perspectives. Acta Botanica Neerlandica, 42, 413-433.
44. Van der Maarel, E. (1976) On the establishment of plant community boundaries. Berichte der Deutschen Botanischen Gesellschaft, 89, 415-443.
45. Van der Maarel, E. (1990) Ecotones and ecoclines are different. Journal of Vegetation Science, 1, 135-138.
46. Van der Maarel, E. (1996) Patterns and process in the plant community: Fifty years after A.S. Watt. Journal of Vegetation Science, 7, 19-28.
47. Van der Steen, W. & Scholten, M. (1985) Methodological problems in evolutionary biology. IV. Stress and stress tolerance, an excercise in definitions. Acta Biotheoretica, 34, 81-90.
48. Van Leeuwen, C.G. (1966) A relation theoretical approach to pattern and process in vegetation. Wentia, 15, 25-46.
49. Watt, A.S. (1964) The community and the individual. Journal of Ecology, 52 (suppl.), 203-211.
50. Westhoff, V. (1951) An analysis of some concepts and terms in vegetation study or phytosociology. Synthese, 8, 194-206.
51. Westhoff, V. & den Held, A.J. (1969) Plantengemeenschappen in Nederland. Thieme, Zutphen.
52. Westhoff, V. & van der Maarel, E. (1973) The Braun-Blanquet approach. Classification and Ordination (ed. R.H. Whitttaker), pp. 617-726. Junk, The Hague.
53. Whittaker, R.H. (1953) A consideration of climax theory: the climax as a population and pattern. Ecological Monographs, 43, 41-78.
54. Whittaker, R.H. (1973) Handbook of Vegetation Science. Vol. 5: Classification and Ordination. Junk, The Hague.
55. Whittaker, R.H. (1975) Communities and Ecosystems. MacMillan, New York.
56. Williamson, M. (1987) Are communities ever stable? Colonization, Succession and Stability (eds. A.J. Gray, M.J. Crawley & P.J. Edwards), pp. 353-371, Blackwell Scientific Publications, Oxford.
57. Wilson, J.B. (1991) Does vegetation science exist? Journal of Vegetation Science, 2, 289-290.
58. Wilson, J.B. (1994) Who makes the assembly rules? Journal of Vegetation Science, 5, 275-278.