title: Experimental manipulation of natural plant communities.
abstract: Attempts to elucidate the factors controlling the structure of plant communities have relied increasingly on field experiments. This is a powerful approach for testing theoretical predictions that offers important advantages over observational and comparative studies. However, field experiments suffer from intrinsic difficulties as well as more-easily remediable limitations. Recent progress has been made by new approaches including the use of multifactor experiments, and the development and dissemination of better statistical tools.
authors.affiliation: Jessica Gurevitch is at the Dept of Ecology and Evolution, State University of New York, Stony Brook, NY 11794-5245, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gurevitch
authors.forename: S L
authors.initials: SL
authors.lastname: Collins