THEORETICAL ASPECTS OF LIFE STRATEGIES OF WILD PLANT SPECIES

Abstract

Aim. This work is an attempt to concretize the concept of "life strategy" of species by identifying the mechanisms of strategies in nature and combine the organismal, population and biocenotic aspects of this phenomenon into a single structure.Discussion. The analysis and summary of the literature sources show that the search for reliable indicators of plant life strategies as well as easily measured and identified adaptive traits and reactions should be carried out at the organismal and population-ontogenetic levels. The choice of life strategy indicators should be made taking into account their role in the maintenance of heterogeneity and the lability of coenopopulations. Among the organismic mechanisms of development of life strategy, providing heterogeneity of coenopopulations, we identified biomorphological, age and dimensional differentiation of species of coenopopulations. To population-ontogenetic mechanisms providing lability coenopopulations, we can also refer adaptive variability of seed production, seed and vegetative reproduction, age, vitality, spatial and biomorphological structures, density and number, state of life of coenopopulations, rhythms of phenological development, etc.These mechanisms are closely interrelated and are the result of the implementation of a genetically fixed biological potential of the species variability, under which it is advisable to consider various forms of polyvariance of species development in ontogenesis as well as variability and flexibility of the plant features.Conclusion. Thus, the life strategy of plant species in nature should be viewed as a holistic, integrated and adaptive response to the impact of environmental factors formed due to the close relationship of its adaptive traits and responses, and determining the means of survival, status and functional role in phytocenosis.

Keywords

• life strategy
• mechanisms
• biological potential of variability
• critical state of coenopopulations