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Methodological problems in evolutionary biology IV. Stress and stress tolerance, an excercise in definitions

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Abstract

Grime (1979) in a recently developed theory distinguished three basic plant strategies: stress tolerance,ruderality and competition. He relates them to environments characterized in terms of stress and disturbance. Classifications of strategies and environments both are ultimately defined in terms of production. This tends to make the theory tautological. If the theory is to make sense, environments had better be defined in independent terms.

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Van der Steen, W.J., Scholten, M. Methodological problems in evolutionary biology IV. Stress and stress tolerance, an excercise in definitions. Acta Biotheor 34, 81–90 (1985). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00418107

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