Life History and Phenology

A comprehensive set of vocabulary flashcards covering key concepts in plant life history, community patterns, and interactions.

Life History

The series of stages a plant goes through from seed germination to death.

Phenology

Factors that affect timing of plant growth and reproductive activity.

Tradeoffs in Plant Growth

Consideration given to growth versus reproduction and seed size versus seed number.

R-selected plants

Plants that reproduce earlier, produce more seeds, and thrive in disturbed habitats.

K-selected plants

Plants that reproduce later, invest more in individual seeds, and thrive in stable habitats.

Pollination Syndromes

Patterns associated with flower traits that attract specific pollinators.

Ruderal plants

Plants that tolerate high disturbance but low stress, e.g., dandelion.

Stress tolerators

Plants that survive high stress and low disturbance, e.g., Eastern prickly pear cactus.

Competitors

Plants that thrive in low-stress, low-disturbance habitats.

CSR Model

A framework emphasizing trade-offs between growth, survival, and reproduction in plants.

Plant Communities

Groups of populations coexisting in space and time, interacting directly or indirectly.

Clements' Perspective

View that plant communities are highly organized and structured by biotic interactions.

Gleason's Perspective

View that plant communities result from biotic, abiotic interactions, and historical chance events.

Drivers of Community Structure

Abiotic factors, biotic factors, phylogenetic history, and random chance influence plant communities.

Frequency

How often a plant appears in a given area.

Cover

Percentage of ground covered by a species.

Density

Number of individuals of a species per unit area.

Importance Value

A metric that accounts for frequency, cover, and density to indicate a plant's value in a landscape.

Biomass

The total mass of a plant.

Richness

The total number of different species in a community.

Diversity

A measurement that considers both richness and evenness of species in a community.

Evenness

The uniformity of species abundance within a community.

Alpha diversity

Diversity within a single community.

Beta diversity

Comparative diversity between communities.

Gamma diversity

Diversity across a landscape including multiple communities.

Invasive Species

Non-native species introduced by humans that spread and harm the environment.

Biotic Resistance Hypothesis

Suggests diverse ecosystems are more resistant to invasion due to resource utilization.

Enemy Release Hypothesis

nonnative plants can thrive outside of their native range because their natural predators are no longer present

Competition

Reduction in fitness due to shared resource use that is limited.

Herbivory

Consumption of all or part of a living plant.