Lesson 12 - Alaska Geobotany Center

Clement s view• Clements, recognized discreet units. In1898 he wrote thePhytogeography ofNebraska, and later described much ofthe vegetation of North America, namingregional formations, associations andseral stages. He described climaxassociations, and wrote about thecauses of succession.• His views were immensely popularduring the 1930s and 1940s.• He metaphorically described plantassociations in terms of an organismwith a birth and death which occurred inthe process of succession. He used themetaphor, probably excessively, todescribe the interdependent nature of theassociated species.• Later ecologist have derided this“organismic” view.• There was somewhat of a revival of someClements ideas with the advent of theGaia hypothesis.Clements