TY - JOUR
T1 - Plant height and evolutionary games
AU - Falster, Daniel S.
AU - Westoby, Mark
PY - 2003/7/1
Y1 - 2003/7/1
N2 - In plants, investment in height improves access to light, but incurs costs in construction and maintenance of the stem. Because the benefits of plant height depend on which other height strategies are present, competition for light can usefully be framed as a game-theoretic problem. The vertical structure of the world's vegetation, which is inefficient for plant growth, can then be understood as the outcome of evolutionary and ecological arms races. In addition, game-theoretic models predict taller vegetation on sites of higher leaf area index, and allocation to reproduction only after an initial period of height growth. However, of 14 game-theoretic models for height reviewed here, only one predicts coexistence of a mix of height strategies, a conspicuous feature of most vegetation. We suggest that game-theoretic models could help account for observed mixtures of height strategies if they incorporated processes for coexistence along spectra of light income and time since disturbance.
AB - In plants, investment in height improves access to light, but incurs costs in construction and maintenance of the stem. Because the benefits of plant height depend on which other height strategies are present, competition for light can usefully be framed as a game-theoretic problem. The vertical structure of the world's vegetation, which is inefficient for plant growth, can then be understood as the outcome of evolutionary and ecological arms races. In addition, game-theoretic models predict taller vegetation on sites of higher leaf area index, and allocation to reproduction only after an initial period of height growth. However, of 14 game-theoretic models for height reviewed here, only one predicts coexistence of a mix of height strategies, a conspicuous feature of most vegetation. We suggest that game-theoretic models could help account for observed mixtures of height strategies if they incorporated processes for coexistence along spectra of light income and time since disturbance.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0038506392&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00061-2
DO - 10.1016/S0169-5347(03)00061-2
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:0038506392
VL - 18
SP - 337
EP - 343
JO - Trends in Ecology & Evolution
JF - Trends in Ecology & Evolution
SN - 0169-5347
IS - 7
ER -