Perspectives on Plant Competition

Twenty contributions focus on how plants compete, and on the consequences of their competition, particularly as it affects the structure and dynamics of plant communities. Although a variety of divergent conceptual frameworks is presented, the editors stress and clarify the underlying definitions to provide a cogent synthesis. Annotation copyright Book News, Inc. Portland, Or.

Jim Grace obtained his Ph.D. from Michigan State University in 1980. He subsequently served on the faculty at the University of Arkansas from 1980 to 1985, before moving to Louisiana State University, where he was Professor of Botany until 1993. He joined the US Geological Survey - National Wetlands Research Center in 1992 and currently holds an Adjunct Professorship in Biology at the University of Louisiana in Lafayette. His basic research specialization is in plant ecology, with an emphasis on species interactions, biodiversity, invasive species, and conservation biology. He has been elected to the positions of chair and vice-chair of the Ecological Section of the Botanical Society of America. He has also served on the editorial and review boards for a number of societies and organizations including; Ecological Society of America, Society of American Naturalists, International Society of Plant Ecology, Society for Aquatic Botany, and the Society of Wetland Scien! tists. His published works include a book with Bruce McCune entitled, Analysis of Ecological Communities, as well as over 85 other publications. He has given over 50 invited lectures around the U.S. and the world. In 2000, he was the recipient of the Society of Wetland Scientists Award for Meritorious Research. At present, he leads a team of researchers that provide science support for conservation of coastal ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico Region. He also serves on invasive species and fire science advisory committees within the USGS.

G. David Tilman is an experimental and theoretical ecologist interested in biodiversity, in the controls of ecosystem composition, stability and productivity, and in the long-term implications for society of human impacts on global ecosystems. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Michigan in 1976. He immediately came to the University of Minnesota where he now is Regents Professor, holds the McKnight University Presidential Chair in Ecology and is Director of Cedar Creek Natural History Area. He has written two books, edited three books, and published more than 160 scientific papers. His honors include Guggenheim Fellow (1984), Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1985), Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences (1995), Pew Scholar in Conservation Biology (1995), the Ecological Society of America’s Cooper Award (1989) and MacArthur Award (1996) and membership in the National Academy of Science (2002). In 2001 he was designated th! e most highly cited environmental scientist of the decade (1990-2000) by the Institute for Scientific Information. In 1996 he founded Issues in Ecology to foster communication among ecologists, the public, and governmental decision makers. He has given about 200 invited talks to both public and academic audiences, and numerous radio, newspaper, magazine, and television interviews. Among other activities, he has served on a White House science advisory panel (the Biodiversity and Ecosystems Panel of the President's Committee of Advisors on Science and Technology – 1997 1998), as a Science Advisor for Public Radio International's The World (1997-1998), and on the editorial boards of Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, Ecology, Ecological Monographs, The American Naturalist, Acta Oecologia (Paris), International Journal of Plant Sciences, and Limnology and Oceanography.