Plant Life Histories

Abstract

This chapter discusses the life cycle patterns of plant species. It focuses on the plant's schedule of birth, mortality, and growth, called life history. As the chapter reveals, there is tremendous variation in life history patterns. Some of that variation is due to factors internal to a plant: how it grows and develops; other variation is due to external factors: patterns of seasonality, water availability, and so forth. The chapter looks at that variation and its causes. It elaborates on the schedules of birth, mortality, and growth over a plant's life-span and the causes and consequences of variation in those schedules. For example, the implications of being perennial plants versus being annual plants. The chapter also examines phenology, the timing of growth and reproduction within a year. Variation in plant life histories has evolved over time, and this variation has important consequences for population dynamics.