Book Description

This book is mostly about the plant communities of a very large area in south-central Texas called the Edwards Plateau where a number of plant communities come together. This area is a physiographicregion and a confluence of many divergent and discontinuous communities. Many of the plant communities in this area have never been described and nothing is published about them and I plan to rectify this. Work on the species and communities of this area are scattered throughout the literature. I plan to bring this work together in one place. Much of what has been said in the past about this large general region of Texas is hearsay or speculation and much is incorrect and will be corrected here. Communities and factors responsible for allowing the communities to develop and persist will be examined including species present, light levels, herbivory, fire frequency, availability of soil water and soil nutrients. The limits of plant species and communities in this area are difficult to understand including why a community is located where it is and what caused it to be there, how it interacts with other communities and the factors or condition that control the distribution and how the communities interact will be carefully examined and explained in light of recent research.