Dispersal in Plants: A Population Perspective

This book is the first text in many years to comprehensively describe our state of knowledge of dispersal in plants. It brings together information from ecological field studies and theoretical modelling, exploring the implications of one for the other. It begins with the adaptations and dispersal of individual seeds, but then, unlike previous books, goes on to examine this in the context of entire plant populations and evolution. It therefore fills a significant gap on the bookshelf of both research ecologists and those involved actively in managing vegetation. The authors draw on a wealth of experience in the study of both natural vegetation and agricultural systems, from field ecology to theoretical modelling and in northern and southern hemispheres.

Table of Contents:
Preface 1: Introduction Dispersal of individual propagules 2: Contribution of the parent plant to dispersal 3: Attributes of propagules that aid dispersal 4: Post-release movement of propagules Patterns of dispersal from entire plants 5: Patterns of dispersal from entire plants Dispersal in Population Dynamics and Evolution 6: Invasions and range expansion 7: Propagule dispersal and the spatial dynamics of populations and communities 8: The Evolution of Dispersal 9: Concluding Remarks References Index

About the Author :
Roger Cousens is a Professor in the School of Resource Management School, University of Melbourne, Australia. He has published for over 20 years on ecology and population dynamics of weeds (including dispersal), especially on methodology. He worked at the Weed Research Organisation and Long Ashton Research Station (UK) before moving to Australia in 1989; since then he has lectured at University of Sydney, headed the weed science department of Agriculture Western Australia, and been the Chair of Plant and Soil Science and head of School of Agricultural Science at La Trobe University. Since 1998 he has been professor and formerly head of the School of Resource Management at University of Melbourne. His current research is on dispersal, spatial pattern and population dynamics, from established agricultural weeds, to new plant invasions and endangered orchids. He also researches on the history of botanic gardens. Calvin Dytham is a Marie Curie More Senior Research Fellow at the University of Potsdam, Germany and a Senior Lecturer in Ecology at the University of York, UK. After completing a BSc in ecology and PhD from the University of Leeds, he took a postition at Imperial College, Silwood Park before returning to Leeds. He has been at the University of York since 1993 with a research fellowship in Potsdam 2006/7. His current research continues a long interest in the evolution of dispersal. Richard Law is a Professor in the Biology Department at the University of York. He obtained a BA from the Univeristy of York and a PhD from the University of Liverpool. He worked as a lecturer in Botany at Sheffield University and at the University of York, and as a guest scientist at the Forschungszentrum Julich Germany and that the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin. He has broad interests in ecological theory including plant community ecology and spatio-temporal processes in plant population dynamics.

Review :
This is a well structured book that has been much needed for some years and provides a modern analytical approach to a subject that is as old as botany itself. The greatest value of this book is that it focuses on dispersal as a fundamental biological process. A vast literature on mating systems explores their evolution and how they influence population dynamics, gene flow, and adaptation. In comparison, the literature on seed dispersal, as opposed to pollen dispersal, is oddly scarce. Cousens et al.'s book is a good step toward remedying this. This book is highly recommended for plant and weed ecologists interested in plant population dynamics. The book is very timely and current summary of the present state in dispersal research. Overall, Dispersal in plants: a population perspective is an excellent work, and a valuable addition to the plant ecologist's bookshelf. It would be suitable for both a graduate and advanced undergraduate students, as well as for anyone seeking an enjoyable, well-written introduction to the growing field of dispersal biology. Although the authors aimed this book at graduate students in plant ecology, plant scientists and ecologists, I recommened it to all weed scientists and agronomists as well. This is a remarkable contribution to the specialist literature in ecology and evolutionary botany.