Plant Response to Stress Functional Analysis in Mediterranean Ecosystems

This book is dedicated to international cooperation, understanding and peace. It is the end result of several years of cooperative work between scientists of three countries: the United States, Germany, and Portugal. The work presented, however, draws from a much broader base, hopefully achieving the objective of NATO Advanced Research Workshops, which have been established to allow and stimulate the exchange of new ideas and the synthesis of information by scientists of NATO countries. The tasks of the workshop were several; to review established methodologies that have provided insight into ecosystem function and adaptations of plants in mediterranean climate zones; to examine new methodologies that have recently been applied in ecological studies and have provided new types of information; to summarize recent studies in mediterranean regions of plant water relations, photosynthesis and production, mineral nutrition, plant growth and development, and response to fire; to stimulate in particular an exchange of information among scientists of European Mediterranean countries; and to discuss means by which all of these objectives might be even more effectively achieved in the future through cooperative international research efforts. This variety of themes is clearly evident in the layout of the book. Held in Sesimbra, Portugal in October of 1985, the workshop took place in a ..

1. Methods and Experimental Strategies for Assessing Mediterranean Plant Function and Response to Stress.- Gas exchange methods for characterizing the impact of stress on leaves.- Rapid assessment of stress effects on plant leaves by chlorophyll fluorescence measurements.- Leaf absorptance and leaf angle: mechanisms for stress avoidance.- Methods for studying the mechanism of water stress effects on photosynthesis.- Coping with variability: Examples of tracer use in root function studies.- Approaches for studying the function of deep root systems.- Use of nitrogen-15 to assess terrestrial nitrogen cycling processes.- Application of computer methods in the field to assess ecosystem function and response to stress.- Studying long term community dynamics using image processing.- 2. Plant Water Relations and Response to Water Stress.- Response of two perennial grasses to water availability in different habitats related to successional change under Mediterranean climate conditions.- Changes in aboveground structure and resistances to water uptake in Quercus coccifera along a rainfall gradient.- Root to shoot communication of the effects of soil drying, flooding or increased salinity. A case for the involvement of plant growth regulators in a multiple chemical signal.- Stomatal conductance and water relations of shrubs growing at the chaparral-desert ecotone in California and Arizona.- Regulation of water use by four species of Cistus in the scrub vegetation of the Serra da Arrábida, Portugal.- Water use by Quercus Ilex L. in forests near Barcelona, Spain.- Soil drying and the resulting chemical and hydraulic effects on leaf growth.- 3. Photosynthesis and Primary Production under Mediterranean Climate Conditions.- Gas exchange characteristics of representative species from the scrub vegetation of central Chile.- Changes during summer drought in leaf CO2 uptake rates of macchia shrubs growing in Portugal: Limitations due to photosynthetic capacity, carboxylation efficiency, and stomatal conductance.- Seasonal and diurnal patterns in leaf gas exchange of Phillyrea angustifolia growing in Portugal.- A model of net photosynthesis for leaves of the sclerophyll Quercus coccifera.- Diurnal patterns of leaf internal CO2 partial pressure of the sclerophyll shrub Arbutus unedo growing in Portugal.- Effect of light on gas exchange parameters of sun and shade adapted leaves of Ceratonia siliqua, Coffea arabica and Malus domestica.- Photosynthesis and water relations of grapevines growing in Portugal - response to environmental factors.- Chlorophyll fluorescence as an indicator of heat induced limitation of photosynthesis in Arbutus unedo L.- Ecological implications of sun/shade-leaf differentiation in sclerophyllous canopies: Assessment by canopy modeling.- 4. Carbon Cycling and Plant Response to Limited Nutrient Supply.- Responses of plants to nutrient supply in mediterranean-type ecosystems.- Nutrient use strategy by evergreen-oak (Quercus ilex ssp. ilex) in NE Spain.- Seasonal photosynthate allocation of the Californian coast live oak Quercus agrifolia.- Biomass, nitrogen, and phosphorus accumulation over a southern California fire cycle chronosequence.- Effect of copper on water relations and growth of Triticum.- 5. Mediterranean Plant Growth, Structure, and Development.- Quantification of mediterranean plant phenology and growth.- Phenology of mediterranean plants in relation to fire season: with special reference to the Cape Province South Africa.- Comparative phenology of four mediterranean shrub species growing in Portugal.- Observations on the phenology of two dominant plants of the Greek maquis.- Crown structure of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. in a coppiced plantation.- Vertical structure of Halimium halimifolium shrubs in Doñana National Park (SW Spain).- Structural analysis of sclerophylly in eleven evergreen phanerophytes in Greece.- The cost of growing and maintaining leaves of mediterranean plants.- Features of seed germination in Arbutus unedo L..- 6. Fire Effects on Mediterranean Plant Populations.- Postfire demography of resprouting and seedling establishment by Adenostoma fasciculatum in the California chaparral.- A model of life history strategies of chaparral shrubs in relation to fire frequency.- Natural and prescribed fire: survival strategies of plants and equilibrium in mediterranean ecosystems.- 7. The Response to Stress at the Landscape Scale.- The effect of summer drought on vegetation structure in the mediterranean climate region of Australia.- Landscape ecology, management and conservation of European and Levant Mediterranean uplands.- 8. Future Directions.- The impact of environmental stress on plant performance in mediterranean climate ecosystems: Differing levels of analysis.