Plants diversity

Space of building served by plant Diversity factor... 

Highest plant diversity has often been found to be correlated with low P availability (Table 6.1). Different shapes of this relationship have been found, e.g., linear or hump-backed shapes. The form of these shapes seems to be independent of the overall amount of P in the soil. However, comparison between different studies is hindered by different methods of P extraction as well as different units. In the... 

However, long-term studies show that recovery of plant diversity may take a long time, especially after P addition, so that prevention of diversity loss due to increased P concentrations in the soil is preferable to later restoration measures. 

Klironomos JN, McCune J, Hart M, Neville J (2000) The influence of arbuscular mycorrhizae on the relationship between plant diversity and productivity. Ecol Lett 3 137-141 Lajtha K, Harrison AF (1995) Strategies of phosphorus acquisition and conservation by plant species and communities. In Hessen H (ed) Phosphorus in the global environment. Wiley, Chichester, UK, pp 140-147... 

Bedford BL, Walbridge MR, Aldous A. 1999. Patterns in nutrient availability and plant diversity of temperate North American wetlands. Ecology 80 2151-2169. 

Glay K, Holah J, Fungal endophyte symbiosis and plant diversity in successional fields, Science 2%5 7A2- 7AA, 1999. 

Hector, A. Schmid, B. Bei kuhnlein, C. Caldeira, M.C. Dianra-, M. (1999) Plant diversity and productivity experiments in European grassland. Scioice, 286, 1123-7. 

Harris, P. J. (2005). Diversity in plant eell walls. In R. J. Henry (Ed.), Plant diversity and evolution genotypic and phenotypic variation in higher plants (pp. 201-227). CAB International Publishing, Wallingford, Oxon, UK. 

Many drugs are complex carbon-based compounds. Some of these drugs have been discovered in plants, especially in areas of tropical rain forests, where there is enormous plant diversity. These plants sometimes contain unique organic compounds that can be developed into important drugs for treatment of serious diseases, such as cancer. Often, the people who are native to these areas are aware of the medicinal properties of the plants and use them to treat various ailments. 

Compared to the conventional treatment, the organic treatment showed higher microbial biomass C and N, mycorrhizal colonisation, enzyme activities (FlieDbach and Mader 2000), earthworm biomass and density (Siegrist et al. 1998) and microbial, faunal and plant diversity (Mader et al. 2002). In the laboratory, there was over 10% greater organic matter decomposition in the biodynamic soil than in the conventional soils (Flielibach et al. 2000). 

The polyphenolics, ubiquitous phytochemicals in the plant kingdom, are important aromatic secondary metabolites of plants. Diverse combinations of polyphenolics are found in plant-based materials. Polyphenolics are important because they are responsible for the color and flavor of fresh and processed products. Some have strong antioxidant and anticancer activities. They are routinely consumed in the human diet in significant quantities. 

Bobbink R, Hicks K, Galloway J, Spranger T, Alkemade R, Ashmore M, Bustamante M, Cinderby S, Davidson E, Dentener F, Emmett B, Erisman JW, Fenn M, Gilliam F, Nordin A, Pardo L, de Vries W (2010) Global assessment of nitrogen deposition effects on terrestrial plant diversity a synthesis. Ecol Appl 20 30-59... 

Davis, S. D., V. H. Heywood, O. Herrera-MacBryde, J. Villa-Lobos, and A. Hamilton, (eds.). 1997. Centres of Plant Diversity A Guide and Strategy for Their Conservation, Volume 3. The Americas. Middle America and Carrihean Islands Sierra de Juarez, Oaxaca, Mexico. Cambridge, UK IUCN Publications Unit, http //www.nmnh.si.edu/botany/projects/cpd/ ma/ma3.htm (accessed April 18, 2006). 

Otway SJ, Pereira JS, Prinz A, Read DJ, Scherer-Lorenzen M, Schulze E-D, Siamantziouras A-SD, Spehn EM, Terry AC, Troumbis AY, Woodward FI, Yachi S, Lawton JH. 1999. Plant diversity and productivity experiments in European grasslands. Science 286 1123-1126. 

A recent publication presented evidence that soil pH correlates most with microbial diversity soils with similar pH exhibit similar bacterial populations regardless of geography and distance.9 Another interesting finding is the inverse correlation between microbial and plant diversity semi-arid ecosystems express the highest diversity of bacteria.9 However, it is still not known to what extent plant diversity affects the diversity of bacterial communities. Furthermore, one... 

Duivenvoorden, J. F., and J. M. Lips. 1995. A land-ecological study of soils, vegetation, and plant diversity in Colombian Amazonia. The TROPENBOS Foundation. Wagenigen, The Netherlands. 

It has been noted that the chemical diversity of plant phenolics is as vast as the plant diversity itself. Most plant phenolics are derived directly from the shikimic acid (simple benzoic acids), shikimate (phenylpropanoid) pathway, or a combination of shikimate and acetate (phenylpropanoid-acetate) pathways. Products of each of these pathways undergo additional structural elaborations that result in a vast array of plant phenolics such as simple benzoic acid and ciimamic acid derivatives, monolig-nols, lignans and lignin, phenylpropenes, coumarins, stilbenes, flavonoids, anthocyanidins, and isollavonoids. 

Hooper D. U. (1998) The role of complementarity and competition in ecosystem responses to variation in plant diversity. Ecology 79, 704-719. 

This high elevation plant diversity harbors extended animal communities which have not been sufficiently well studied. However, in as much as cross pollination and non-wind seed dispersal are fundamental mechanisms for plant species survival, this fauna is of crucial importance to vascular plant life. Although animal life is beyond the scope of the present chapter, the interested reader might find some specific reports instruetive (e.g. Pefaur and Duellman, 1980 Pefaur and Diaz de Pascual, 1985 Vuilleumier, 1986 Hoffstetter, 1986 Cei, 1986 Reig, 1986 Holloway, 1986 Villwock, 1986 Durant et al., 1994 Diaz et al., 1997). As far as arthropods and their influence in secondary plant metabolism, their species diversity has been observed to decline with elevation in some places (e.g. Fleishman et al., 1998). Some exceptions exist as the case of mite s abundance and species diversity in the Appalachians illustrates (Lamoncha and Crossley, 1998). However, more important than species richness to herbivory pressure is the number of individuals forming a herbivore population, a subject that requires further attention in high elevations before a clear picture on their influence on secondary plant metabolism may be assessed properly. 

Kdmer, Ch. 1995. Alpine plant diversity a global survey and functional interpretations. In Arctic and Alpine Biodiversity. Patterns, Causes, and Ecosystem Consequences. Chapin, FS, III, and KOmer, Ch, (eds.) Ecol. StudiesllS, Berlin, pp. 45-62. 

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