Plant life-form

Life is a mainly used in botany term for types of organization of organisms that are characterized by the same structure, development, lifestyle or behavioral characteristics by which they are adapted to certain environmental conditions. A life form system commonly used plant is that of Christians Raunkiaer which divided the plants according to the position of their Überdauerungsknospen. Other systems share a plant according to the water supply of their location, according to soil factors or diets. Life form and growth form are often used interchangeably.

Some authors distinguish between life form and life form type. This is the way of life of the entire autecological complex of structures and behavior of an organism, while the life-form type consists of all species that have formed a complex of similar structures due to their similar lifestyle.

Life forms after Raunkiaer

Raunkiaer in 1919 created a system of life forms of plants, grouped by the types according to the position of their Überdauerungsknospen. The system was created in Northern Europe and is widely used today, especially in Europe. The persistence of unfavorable seasons includes not only cold winters and dry seasons. There are, after expansion of the system about by Ellenberg and Mueller- Dombois (1967 ), the following life forms:

Phanerophytes: Überdauerungsknospen more than 30 cm above the ground. Chief among these are the trees and shrubs.
Chamaephytes have buds. Between one and are 30 cm above the ground Thus, the buds are usually protected from the snow and enjoy a ground-level microclimate. These resources include dwarf shrubs and cushion plants.
Hemicryptophytes have their Überdauerungsknospen directly on the soil surface, so that they are protected by the layer of leaves. The buds are often located at the basal parts of the last year's shoots.
Geophyten form hidden outlasting and buds, which are particularly well protected in the soil.
Therophytes are once flowering ( hapaxanthe ), herbaceous species that accomplish their life cycle in less than a year and do not form outlasting. Hibernation takes place through the diasporas.

These life forms all rooted in the soil and are summarized as Radikante. You are compared to two groups of plants that are not rooted in soil:

Adherent or adnate plants sit on other plants, to include them as epiphytes.
Movable or errante plants are free floating and floating aquatic plants.

Other systems

After the water content of the site can be distinguished:

Aquatic plants ( hydrophytes )
Marsh plants ( helophytes )
Moisture plants ( hygrophytes )
Drought plants ( xerophytes )

After the soil factor can be distinguished:

Kalkpflanzen
Heavy metal plants ( Chalkophyten )
Salt plants ( halophytes )

After the diet can be distinguished:

Parasites, such Mykoheterotrophie
Half parasites ( hemiparasite )
Carnivorous Plant ( Carnivore )

In animals, there are about breakdowns by the form of movement of the float, Graber, climbers, runners and fliers.

Documents

M. A. Fischer, K. Oswald, W. Adler: Exkursionsflora for Austria, Liechtenstein and South Tyrol. Third Edition, Upper Austria, Biology Centre of the Upper Austrian Provincial Museum, Linz 2008, pp. 107f. ISBN 978-3-85474-187-9
Matthias Schaefer: Dictionary of Ecology. 4th Edition, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, 2003, pp. 183f. ISBN 3-8274-0167-4

Plant life-form

Life forms after Raunkiaer

Other systems

Documents

Further Reading