(c) Similar communities, 



Table 4. 



Comparison of life form spectra of similar communities from different areas. 



Region 



Community 



Ch. H. 



G. H. H. Th. 



Calitornia 



Salinas Grande 



California 



Fa no 



Sweden 



Middle Europe 



II 

 Fano 



Sweden 



II 

 Fano 



Sweden 



Middle Europe 



II 

 Fano 



Sweden 



Middle Europe' 



Sweden 



Middle Europe 



Spartinetum foliosae 



Spartinetum montevidensis 



Salicornietum ambiguae 



Salicornietum herbaceae 

 11 II 



II M 



Puccinellio-Plantaginetum 



Plantaginetum 



Artimisietum maritimi 

 II II 



Static e to -Arte mi sietum 



Juncetum gerardi 

 II II 



II II 



Scirpetum maritimi 



A number of points emerge from a study of this table. Further work 

 requires more data involving frequency determinations. 



DISCUSSION 

 Chamberlain: 



I wonder if Dr. Chapman would explain a little further his 

 c oncept of the sere climax that he mentioned in his paper. 



Chapman: That is largely a matter of viewpoint I think. You can call it 



a physiographic climax if you like. For example, supposing 

 you take a salt marsh in which normally on the highest salt 

 marsh, shall we say, Juncus maritimus is the dominant veg- 

 etation. If you've got fresh water coming into that area, the 

 Juncus maritimus zone will be invaded by Phragmites. As 

 you go up Phragmites will be replaced. You will get bush 

 growing into that. With the gradual rise of the land the 

 Phragmites will invade further and further into the Juncus 

 maritimus zone, so that ultimately the Juncus maritimus zone 

 will be replaced. In a case like that Juncus maritimus is 

 clearly not the climax because you are getting a transition to 

 reed swamp, but now supposing you've got the kind of situa- 

 tion that you have along this coast or in New Zealand where 

 you've got an offshore bar. On those salt marshes there is 



53 



