reading and apply general principles of Ecology to explain how patterns form in a variety of landscapes. Turn to a neighbor and discuss Figure 1, which depicts vegetation pattern and elevation gradients along a transect in the Florida scrub. Note that the scale of variation in the elevation of this landscape is much smaller than in mountainous landscapes (in fact, these relatively small differences in elevation are not enough to drive the same kinds of weather patterns in large mountains). On the figure above, indicate where you would find the following plants: Plant A: High drought resistence and low resistance to water-logged soil Plant B: Medium tolerance to both drought and water-logged soil Plant C: Low drought tolerance and high tolerance to water-logged soil Note that Figure 1 illustrates a profile of Archbold Biological Station in the Florida Scrub landscape, and that the y-axis ranges only a few of meters. Next, imagine a 10’s change the scale of the y-axis so that it approximates the elevation change of a mountainous landscape. Indicate where plants A-C would be found in a mountainous landscape. Why do their positions change? (Hint: Think about the role of the physical template in structuring soil moisture in the two landscapes.) Landscape pattern and biotic interactions Instructions: The previous activity prepared you for understanding how physical differences (e.g. water availability) among places in the landscape create resource gradients. Plants sort themselves based on such gradients according to their ability to outcompete other species for resources (Figure 2). Smith and Huston (1989) used model simulations of different plant functional types (groups of plant types that have similar resource requirements and tolerances) to predict where different types of plants sort along resource gradients. Remember from the background information that allelopathic plants generate chemicals that inhibit the growth and survival of competitors in their general vicinity(Richardson and Williamson 1988). An allelopathic plant decreases competition for local resources by reducing the number of nearby species and is therefore able to access the resources that other species would be consuming.
reading and apply general principles of Ecology to explain how patterns form in a variety of landscapes. Turn to a neighbor and discuss Figure 1, which depicts vegetation pattern and elevation gradients along a transect in the Florida scrub. Note that the scale of variation in the elevation of this landscape is much smaller than in mountainous landscapes (in fact, these relatively small differences in elevation are not enough to drive the same kinds of weather patterns in large mountains). On the figure above, indicate where you would find the following plants: Plant A: High drought resistence and low resistance to water-logged soil Plant B: Medium tolerance to both drought and water-logged soil Plant C: Low drought tolerance and high tolerance to water-logged soil Note that Figure 1 illustrates a profile of Archbold Biological Station in the Florida Scrub landscape, and that the y-axis ranges only a few 10’s of meters. Next, imagine a change the scale of the y-axis so that it approximates the elevation change of a mountainous landscape. Indicate where plants A-C would be found in a mountainous landscape. Why do their positions change? (Hint: Think about the role of the physical template in structuring soil moisture in the two landscapes.) Landscape pattern and biotic interactions Instructions: The previous activity prepared you for understanding how physical differences (e.g. water availability) among places in the landscape create resource gradients. Plants sort themselves based on such gradients according to their ability to outcompete other species for resources (Figure 2). Smith and Huston (1989) used model simulations of different plant functional types (groups of plant types that have similar resource requirements and tolerances) to predict where different types of plants sort along resource gradients. Remember from the background information that allelopathic plants generate chemicals that inhibit the growth and survival of competitors in their general vicinity(Richardson and Williamson 1988). An allelopathic plant decreases competition for local resources by reducing the number of nearby species and is therefore able to access the resources that other species would be consuming.
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