Perspectives on Plant Competition

Ever since Darwin, competition has been considered to be on e of the
major forces shaping the morphology an d life history of plants an d the
structure an d dynamics of plant communities. Because of this central
position, plant competition has been approache d from a great variety of
perspectives. This has led to the development of divergent conceptual
frameworks, each with its own vocabulary, goals, theory, an d empiricisms. Because comparabl e divergences led to a decade of often unpro -
ductive controversy in animal ecology (see Strong et ai, 1984), we feel it
is time to explore various perspectives on plant competition an d hop e to
avoid further controversy by clarifying the underlying definitions, goals,
and concepts associated with each perspective.

 This book is designed to encourage such communication. Each of its
20 chapters was written, reviewed, an d edited to present, in as unambiguous a manne r as possible, the unique perspectives of its autho r or
authors. As such, they are statements of the present status of knowledge
in this field. However, this book was motivated by the belief that, once
stripped of differences in vocabulary an d once different goals were acknowledged, ther e were many commonalities in studies of plant compe -
tition. Thes e commonalities are opportunitie s for syntheses that lead to
the development of new theories. It is ou r hop e that this book can provide the raw material an d the impetus for such syntheses durin g the
coming decade.