Biome evolution of a crucial ecological and biogeographical concept

A biome is a key community ecological and biogeographical concept and, as such, has profited from the overall progress of community ecology, punctuated by two major innovations: shifting the focus from pure pattern description to understanding functionality, and changing the approach from observatio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:The New phytologist Vol. 222; no. 1; pp. 97 - 114
Main Author: Mucina, Ladislav
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: England Wiley 01.04.2019
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc
John Wiley and Sons Inc
Subjects:
azonal biomes
Biogeography
Biological Evolution
biome modelling
Climate
Communities
Community ecology
Ecological function
Ecology
Ecosystem
Ecosystems
Evolution
evolution of biome
genomic tools
Geography
Humans
Innovation
Mathematical models
Modelling
plant functional types
Plants
Research Review
Review
Soil
Vegetation patterns
vegetation zonality
azonal biomes
biogeography
evolution of biome
genomic tools
vegetation zonality
biome modelling
plant functional types
climate
ISSN:0028-646X, 1469-8137, 1469-8137
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:A biome is a key community ecological and biogeographical concept and, as such, has profited from the overall progress of community ecology, punctuated by two major innovations: shifting the focus from pure pattern description to understanding functionality, and changing the approach from observational to explanatory and,most importantly, from descriptive to predictive. The functional focus enabled development of mechanistic and function-focused predictive and retrodictive modelling; it also shaped the current understanding of the concept of a biome as a dynamic biological entity having many aspects, with deep roots in the evolutionary past, and which is undergoing change. The evolution of the biome concept was punctuated by three synthetic steps: the first synthesis formulated a solid body of theory explaining the ecological and biogeographical meaning of zonality and collated our knowledge on drivers of vegetation patterns at large spatial scales; the second translated this knowledge into effective mechanistic modelling tools, developing further the link between ecosystem functionality and biogeography; and the third (still in progress) is seeking common ground between large-scale ecological and biogeographic phenomena, using macroecology and macroevolutionary research tools.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 14
content type line 23
ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/nph.15609