Local texture convergence within three communities in Fiordland, New Zealand
The texture of a plant community, i.e. the range of values in functional characters across the species present, integrates the ecological and evolutionary processes that have led to that communityÕs present species composition. The idealistic prediction of ecological theory is that selection for co-adaptation and competitive sorting will lead to convergence in texture between different patches of vegetation with the same environment. This concept has previously been applied at the continental scale; here it is applied for the first time at a within community scale.