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Article: Scientists at University of New South Wales detail research in ecology.
- Article from:
- Ecology, Environment & Conservation
- Article date:
- September 11, 2009
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" Plant height is a central part of plant ecological strategy. It is strongly correlated with life span, seed mass and time to maturity, and is a major determinant of a species' ability to compete for light," scientists in Sydney, Australia report.
"Plant height is also related to critical ecosystem variables such as animal diversity and carbon storage capacity. However, remarkably little is known about global patterns in plant height. Here, we use maximum height data for 7084 plant Species x Site combinations to provide the first global, cross-species quantification of the latitudinal gradient in plant height. The mean maximum height of species growing within 15 ...