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Plant body as a behavioural platform - an ecologist's insight
Weiser, Martin ; Herben, Tomáš (advisor) ; Šmilauer, Petr (referee) ; Novoplansky, Ariel (referee)
Conceptualisation of plant behaviour, or plant phenotypic plasticity, has been proven to be useful both on the ecosystem scale and on the level of individuals, as it allows to predict differentiation of species across ecosystems or results of interactions among individuals. Between these extremes is a vast array of processes that drive community assembly. These processes are difficult to predict, be it at the individual level or based on whether a whole species is plastic or non-plastic. These processes are traditionally investigated at the species level. In this thesis, however, I instead show how species-specific life histories delineate plant behaviour. I hope to convince the reader that it is the plant body, or at least its species-specific properties, not merely its non-specific, theoretical degree of plasticity, that should be used to explain actual cases where plant behaviour underpins species coexistence. As evidence for my case, I present four studies, each of them dealing with different part of the plant body that underlies different aspects of plant behaviour. In the first study, I show how species' life- history traits are coordinated with their responses to neighbour presence and resource shortage, both of these delivered in the form of changing light quantity and quality. Not only the...
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Plant body as a behavioural platform - an ecologist's insight
Weiser, Martin ; Herben, Tomáš (advisor) ; Šmilauer, Petr (referee) ; Novoplansky, Ariel (referee)
Conceptualisation of plant behaviour, or plant phenotypic plasticity, has been proven to be useful both on the ecosystem scale and on the level of individuals, as it allows to predict differentiation of species across ecosystems or results of interactions among individuals. Between these extremes is a vast array of processes that drive community assembly. These processes are difficult to predict, be it at the individual level or based on whether a whole species is plastic or non-plastic. These processes are traditionally investigated at the species level. In this thesis, however, I instead show how species-specific life histories delineate plant behaviour. I hope to convince the reader that it is the plant body, or at least its species-specific properties, not merely its non-specific, theoretical degree of plasticity, that should be used to explain actual cases where plant behaviour underpins species coexistence. As evidence for my case, I present four studies, each of them dealing with different part of the plant body that underlies different aspects of plant behaviour. In the first study, I show how species' life- history traits are coordinated with their responses to neighbour presence and resource shortage, both of these delivered in the form of changing light quantity and quality. Not only the...
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