While there has been considerable coverage of the evolution, systematics, and reproductive biology of the grasses and numerous studies of grassland communities and ecosystems, information on the population biology of this economically important plant family has not been recently synthesized. This volume arose from the recognition of this contention and is, in part, based upon a symposium on the ‘Population Biology of Grasses’ held on 8 August, 1995 at the annual meeting of the Botanical Society of America in San Diego, California. Most participants agreed that a volume on this topic would be timely and of interest to a variety of botanists and ecologists throughout the world. A number of the original participants have contributed chapters to the present volume.

In this book, demographic, physiological, ecological, and molecular approaches to understanding grass populations are considered in relation to life history patterns and reproductive biology. Relevant aspects of grass life histories included are dispersal, germination, seedling establishment, population dynamics, and reproduction. Critical to understanding the microevolution of grass populations is an analysis of the role of genetic variation and phenotypic plasticity in shaping life history traits. From an ecological perspective, the widespread nature of the interactions of other plants and fungi with grasses underscores the importance of considering the impact of biotic factors on the population biology of grasses. All of these aspects of population biology are explored in various chapters in the present volume. In addition, other chapters employ a population perspective to focus on the ecology of specific species in major grass-dominated ecosystems in Africa, Australia, and Japan.

This book would not have been possible without the tremendous commitment of the various contributors.