Role in Ecosystem and Global Processes: Ecophysiological Controls

In previous chapters, we emphasized the integration among processes from molecular to whole-plant levels and considered the physiological consequences of interactions between plants and other organisms. In this chapter, we move up in scale, to consider relationships between plant ecophysiological processes and those occurring at ecosystem to global scales. Plant species differ substantially in their responses to environment and to other organisms. It is not surprising that these physiological differences among plants contribute strongly to functional differences among ecosystems.