Lecture series in Ecology and Environmental Research WS 2009/10

From moving seeds to shifting ranges: A demographic approach to plant biogeography

Eingeladen durch Björn Reineking.

The range dynamics of species results from the dynamics of local populations that are connected by dispersal. This general relationship forms the foundation of a demographic approach to plant biogeography that combines process-based models of local dynamics and long-distance seed dispersal with functional trait measurements, experiments and observational data. Using examples from European and African plant species, I will show that this demographic approach can explain large-scale distributions and dynamics, and that it provides a basis for understanding how evolutionary and community-level processes shape range dynamics. Furthermore, the integration of this approach into a statistical framework substantially improves our ability to forecast the range dynamics of species exposed to environmental change.

• Announcement (pdf)