Journal article
Leaf traits of Eucalyptus arenacea (Myrtaceae) as indicators of edge effects in temperate woodlands of south-eastern Australia
Thomas E Wright, Sabine Kasel, Michael Tausz, Lauren T Bennett
Australian Journal of Botany | CSIRO PUBLISHING | Published : 2013
DOI: 10.1071/BT13061
Abstract
Despite recent trends in using plant functional traits to describe ecosystem responses to environmental change, few studies have examined the capacity of traits to represent environmental variation for individual species at small spatial scales, such as across forest edges. We examined the utility of 12 easy-to-measure leaf traits (fresh weight to dry weight ratio, specific leaf area (SLA), osmolality, δ13C, δ15N, and concentrations of key nutrients) to detect edge effects on the function of a dominant woodland tree, Eucalyptus arenacea Marginson & Ladiges. The study included replicate E. arenacea trees at the woodland edge (0m) and interior (75m from edge) of three woodlands adjoined by pas..
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Funding Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge Nola and Geoff Wright, Anne Miehs, Mark Hall and staff at Timbercorp for their assistance in field work. The design of the study benefited from the experience of Dr Steven Livesley from the Department of Resource Management and Geography at the University of Melbourne. This research was funded by the Cooperative Research Centre for Forestry and The University of Melbourne (Melbourne Research Scholarship). Funding from the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment supported SK and LTB. We thank two anonymous reviewers for comments that improved the manuscript.