ZOOLOGY 651 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Understory, Species Richness, High Fidelity
22 Oct 2016
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Document Summary
Paying the extinction debt in southern wisconsin forest understories. 1994 rare species are more likely to go extinct than common species says efforts should be devoted to protecting rarer elements of diversity. Most plant species show a high degree of fidelity to some particular set of conditions species that show high fidelity to a particular community also tend to be rare within their communities. Most ground layer plant species are rare, both in the sense that they are restricted to one or a few types of community and in the sense that they are not abundant even within that community. Without further disturbance, areas often become dominated by the most persistent and competitive species forest tree species that cast the deepest shade and best tolerate shade themselves come to dominate the canopy in the absence of disturbance. The pace of plant community change is accelerating in remnant prairies. Number and strength of novel global change drivers are increasing.
