El Paper de la competència en les comunitats vegetals mediterrànies Authors Montserrat Llevadot i Vilà Abstract This paper reviews studies about the effect of competition on the structure of plant communities in mediterranean regions to determine the mechanisms of plant competition and the limitations of these studies. The review also addresses the coexistence mechanisms that decrease competition among species in these regions. Most studies are based on the patterns of species structure and abundance. However, during the last decade have appeared some publications on experimental studies that analyze the interaction of competition with the biotic and abiotic environment. According to these studies, competition for water and soil nutrients is more important than competition for light. Fire may diminish competition among individuals and among species, although during the early stages of regeneration, competition favors the largest individuals. Niche differentiation with regard to phenology, morphology of the root system and diversity of the responses to summer water stress may explain why species may compete for some limiting resources and coexist at the mature stages of community development. Differences in the requirements for regeneration and reproduction, and also the heterogeneity of the microenvironment, may explain why competition is less important at the early stages of community development. Downloads Download data is not yet available. Downloads Text complet (Català) Published 2005-05-09 Issue Vol. 63 : 1995 Section Sistemes i Processos License The intellectual property of articles belongs to the respective authors.On submitting articles for publication to the journal Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural authors accept the following terms:Authors assign to Institució de la Societat Catalana d’Història Natural (a subsidiary of Institut d’Estudis Catalans) the rights of reproduction, communication to the public and distribution of the articles submitted for publication to Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural.Authors answer to Institució de la Societat Catalana d’Història Natural for the authorship and originality of submitted articles.Authors are responsible for obtaining permission for the reproduction of all graphic material included in articles.Institució de la Societat Catalana d’Història Natural declines all liability for the possible infringement of intellectual property rights by authors.The contents published in the journal, unless otherwise stated in the text or in the graphic material, are subject to a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs (by-nc-nd) 3.0 Spain licence, the complete text of which may be found at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/es/deed.en. Consequently, the general public is authorised to reproduce, distribute and communicate the work, provided that its authorship and the body publishing it are acknowledged, and that no commercial use and no derivative works are made of it.The journal Butlletí de la Institució Catalana d'Història Natural is not responsible for the ideas and opinions expressed by the authors of the published articles.