Plant Population Dynamics and Species Turnover on Small Islands near Karpathos (South Aegean, Greece)

The vascular flora of small offshore islets around Karpathos (Dodecanesos, Greece) has been surveyed and monitored during six consecutive years. The present study focuses on four islets that are inhabited by the 'islet specialist' Silene holzmannii (Caryophyllaceae), a species that has a w...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Vegetatio 1988-11, Vol.77 (1/3), p.129-137
Main Authors: Höner, D., Greuter, W.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal and plant ecology
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Biological and medical sciences
Cliffs
Extinct species
Flora
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Islands
Plants
Population dynamics
Sowing
Species
Synecology
Terrestrial ecosystems
Vascular plants
Vegetation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:The vascular flora of small offshore islets around Karpathos (Dodecanesos, Greece) has been surveyed and monitored during six consecutive years. The present study focuses on four islets that are inhabited by the 'islet specialist' Silene holzmannii (Caryophyllaceae), a species that has a widely scattered distribution in the Aegean where it exclusively occurs on very small islands. Repeated census of its populations, partly following controlled extirpation, reveals extreme variation in number of individuals. Sowing experiments involving various species demonstrate the low probability of successful new colonizations. Differences in the amount of apparent turnover of species as well as the occurrence of both stable micro-populations and mass-populations are discussed.
ISSN:0042-3106
1573-5052
DOI:10.1007/BF00045758