Free Standard AU & NZ Shipping For All Book Orders Over $80!
Register      Login
Australian Journal of Botany Australian Journal of Botany Society
Southern hemisphere botanical ecosystems
Shopping Cart: ( empty )
You are here: Home > Journals > BT > BT05010
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 53(6)

Life histories, ecological tolerance limits, and the evolution of geographic range size in Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae)

Sally Mathews A and Stephen P. Bonser A B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia.

B Corresponding author. Email: s.bonser@unsw.edu.au

Australian Journal of Botany 53(6) 501-508 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT05010
Submitted: 10 January 2005  Accepted: 9 June 2005   Published: 30 September 2005

Abstract

Current theories explaining variability in species geographic range sizes in plants tend to focus on how traits associated with either physiological tolerance limits or life histories are related to range size. In trees, aspects of both physiological tolerance (e.g. drought tolerance) and life history (e.g. life span and growth rate) are related to stem traits such as wood density and height relative to diameter. We examined how the evolution of stem traits is related to geographic range sizes in Eucalyptus at two spatial scales: across the Australian continent and within the wet forests near the east coast of Australia. Geographic range sizes were estimated from herbarium records. Stem trait data were collected from both natural populations and published sources. We used phylogenetically independent contrasts to test for evolutionary associations between stem traits and geographic range sizes. Across Australia, the evolution of stem traits conferring drought tolerance were not consistently associated greater range sizes. This was surprising since arid and semi-arid environments are geographically expansive. Within the eastern forests, the evolution of stem traits defining slow growing, competitively dominant life histories were associated with greater range sizes. These stem traits should confer both a capacity to disperse into previously unoccupied habitats and the ability to persist in habitats already occupied. Traits associated with physiological tolerance and life history had significant effects on the evolution of range sizes in Eucalyptus. However, we demonstrate that the impact of these traits on range size evolution depends on both environmental conditions and the scale at which these traits are examined.


Acknowledgments

We thank B. Hawkins and M. Forster for field assistance and S. Laffan for assistance with range size calculations. Field samples were collected with permission from NSW National Parks and State Forests. This research was supported by a University of New South Wales Faculty Research Grant to S.P.B.


References


Ackerly DD (2000) Taxon sampling, correlated evolution, and independent contrasts. Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution 54, 1480–1492.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Ackerly DD, Reich PB (1999) Convergence and correlations among leaf size and function in seed plants: a comparative test using independent contrasts. American Journal of Botany 86, 1272–1281.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Aizen MA, Woodcock H (1996) Effects of acorn size on seedling survival and growth in Quercus rubra following simulated spring freeze. Canadian Journal of Botany 74, 308–314. open url image1

Australian natural resources information (2002). ‘National land and water resources audit.’ (Turner Publishing: ACT)

Boland, DJ , Brooker, MIH , Chippendale, GM , Hall, H , Hyland, BPM , Johnson, RD , Kleinig, DA ,  and  Turner, JD (1984). ‘Forest trees of Australia.’ (Thomas Nelson: Melbourne)

Brooker MIH (2000) A new classification of the genus Eucalyptus L’Her. (Myrtaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 13, 79–148.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Brooker, MIH , Slee, AV , Connors, JR ,  and  Duffy, SM (2002). ‘Euclid: eucalypts of southern Australia.’ (CSIRO Publishing: Melbourne)

Brown JH, Stevens GC, Kaufman DM (1996) The geographic range: size, shape, and internal structure. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 27, 597–623.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Byrne M, Hines B (2004) Phylogeographical analysis of cpDNA variation in Eucalyptus loxophleba (Myrtaceae). Australian Journal of Botany 52, 459–470.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Chippendale, GM (1988). ‘Flora of Australia. Vol. 19, Myrtaceae, , .’ (Australian Government Publishing Service: Canberra)

Enquist BJ, West GB, Charnov EL, Brown JH (1999) Allometric scaling of production and life-history variation in vascular plants. Nature 401, 907–911.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Garland TH, Harvey PH, Ives AR (1992) Procedures for the analysis of comparative data using phylogenetically independent contrasts. Systematic Biology 41, 18–32. open url image1

Gaston, KJ (1994). ‘Rarity.’ (Chapman & Hall: New York)

Gaston KJ (1996) Species-range-size distributions: patterns, mechanisms, and implications. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 11, 197–201.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Hacke UG, Sperry JS, Pockman WT, Davis SD, McCulloh KA (2001) Trends in wood density and structure are linked to prevention of xylem implosion by negative pressure. Oecologia 126, 457–461.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Holt RD (2003) On the evolutionary ecology of species’ ranges. Evolutionary Ecology Research 5, 159–178. open url image1

Hughes L, Cawsey EM, Westoby M (1996a) Climatic range sizes of Eucalyptus in relation to future climate change. Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 5, 23–29. open url image1

Hughes L, Cawsey EM, Westoby M (1996b) Geographic and climatic range sizes of Australian eucalypts and a test of Rapoport’s rule. Global Ecology and Biogeography Letters 5, 128–142. open url image1

Ilic, J , Boland, D , McDonald, M , Downs, G ,  and  Blakemore, P (2000). ‘National carbon accounting system, Technical report no. 18. Wood density, Phase I, State of knowledge.’ (Australia Greenhouse Office: Canberra)

Kelly CK, Woodward FI (1996) Ecological correlates of plant range size: taxonomies and phylogenies in the study of plant commonness and rarity in Great Britain. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences 351, 1261–1268. open url image1

Kelly PE, Cook ER, Larson DW (1992) Constrained growth, cambial mortality, and dendrochronology of ancient Thuja occidentalis on cliffs of the Niagara Escarpment: an eastern version of bristlecone pine? International Journal of Plant Sciences 153, 117–127.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Koch GW, Sillett SC, Jennings GM, Davis SD (2004) The limits to tree height. Nature 428, 851–854.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Lei TT, Lechowicz M (1990) Shade adaptation and shade tolerance in saplings of three Acer species from North America. Oecologia 84, 224–228. open url image1

Loehle C (1996) Optimal defence investments in plants. Oikos 75, 299–302. open url image1

Loehle C (2000) Strategy space and the disturbance spectrum: a life-history model for tree species coexistence. American Naturalist 156, 14–33.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Murray BR, Thrall PH, Gill M, Nicotra AB (2002) How plant life history and ecological traits related to species rarity and commonness at varying spatial scales. Austral Ecology 27, 291–310.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Niklas, KJ (1994). ‘Plant allometry: the scaling of form and process.’ (University of Chicago Press: Chicago)

Niklas, KJ (1997). ‘The evolutionary biology of plants.’ (University of Chicago Press: Chicago)

Oakwood M, Jurado E, Leishman M, Westoby M (1993) Geographic ranges of plant species in relation to dispersal morphology, growth form and diaspore weight. Journal of Biogeography 20, 563–572. open url image1

Pither J (2003) Climate tolerance and interspecific variation in geographic range size. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series B. Biological Sciences 270, 475–481.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Pockman WT, Sperry JS (2000) Vulnerability to xylem cavitation and the distribution of Sonoran desert vegetation. American Journal of Botany 87, 1287–1299.
| PubMed |
open url image1

Preston KA, Ackerly DD (2003) Hydraulic architecture and the evolution of shoot allometry in contrasting climates. American Journal of Botany 90, 1502–1512. open url image1

Purvis, A ,  and  Rambaut, A (1994). ‘Comparative contrasts by independent contrasts (CAIC). Version 2.’ (Oxford University: Oxford)

Reich PB, Wright IJ, Cavender-Bares J, Craine JM, Oleksyn J, Westoby M, Walters MB (2003) The evolution of plant functional variation: traits, spectra, and strategies. International Journal of Plant Sciences 164, s143–s164.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Ricklefs RE, Latham RE (1992) Intercontinental correlation of geographic range sizes suggests stasis in ecological traits of relict genera of temperate perennial herbs. American Naturalist 139, 1305–1321.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Specht, RL (1981). Major vegetation formations in Australia. In ‘Ecological biogeography of Australia’. pp. 163–298. (Junk: The Hague)

Steane DA, Byrne M, Vaillancourt RE, Potts BM (1998) Chloroplast DNA polymorphism signals complex interspecific interactions in Eucalyptus (Myrtaceae). Australian Systematic Botany 11, 25–40.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Steane DA, Nicolle D, McKinnon GE, Vaillancourt RE, Potts BM (2002) Higher-level relationships among the eucalypts are resolved by ITS sequence. Australian Systematic Botany 15, 49–62.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Stearns, SC (1992). (Oxford University Press: Oxford)

Sterck FJ, Bongers F (1998) Ontogenetic changes in size, allometry, and mechanical design of tropical rainforest trees. American Journal of Botany 85, 266–272. open url image1

Thomas SC (1996) Asymptotic height as a predictor of growth and allometric characteristics in Malaysian rain forest trees. American Journal of Botany 83, 556–566. open url image1

West GB, Brown JH, Enquist BJ (1999) A general model for the structure, function, and allometry of plant vascular systems. Nature 400, 664–667.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Westoby M, Leishman MR, Lord JM (1995) On misinterpreting the ‘phylogenetic correction’. Journal of Ecology 83, 531–534. open url image1

Woodward I (2004) Tall storeys. Nature 428, 807–808.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1










Appendix 1.  Species examined in this study
A1

(a) Across Australia

  • Angophora costata

  • Corymbia calophylla

  • Corymbia citriodora

  • Corymbia eximia

  • Corymbia gummifera

  • Corymbia haematoxylon

  • Corymbia intermedia

  • Corymbia maculata

  • Corymbia polycarpa

  • Corymbia tessellaris

  • Corymbia trachyphloia

  • Eucalyptus alba

  • Eucalyptus albens

  • Eucalyptus amygdalina

  • Eucalyptus baileyana

  • Eucalyptus brockwayi

  • Eucalyptus camaldulensas

  • Eucalyptus cloeziana

  • Eucalyptus cloezianaa

  • Eucalyptus dives

  • Eucalyptus dunnii

  • Eucalyptus erythrocorys

  • Eucalyptus gamophylla

  • Eucalyptus globulus

  • Eucalyptus gongylocarpa

  • Eucalyptus grandis

  • Eucalyptus megacarpa

  • Eucalyptus meliodora

  • Eucalyptus micocorys

  • Eucalyptus microtheca

  • Eucalyptus nitens

  • Eucalyptus obliqua

  • Eucalyptus ovata

  • Eucalyptus pachyphylla

  • Eucalyptus pauciflora

  • Eucalyptus pilularis

  • Eucalyptus polyanthemos

  • Eucalyptus populnea

  • Eucalyptus radiata

  • Eucalyptus regnans

  • Eucalyptus salmonophloia

  • Eucalyptus sieberi

  • Eucalyptus tenuipes

  • Eucalyptus tereticornis

  • Eucalyptus umbra

  • Eucalyptus wandoo

(b) Within the eastern forests

  • Angophora bakeri

  • Angophora costata

  • Eucalyptus amplifoliaA

  • Eucalyptus bauerianaA

  • Eucalyptus considenianaA

  • Eucalyptus dives

  • Eucalyptus globoidea

  • Eucalyptus maidenii

  • Eucalyptus melliodora

  • Eucalyptus muellerianaA

  • Eucalyptus nitens

  • Eucalyptus polyanthemos

  • Eucalyptus radiata

  • Eucalyptus sieberi

  • Eucalyptus tereticornis

  • Eucalyptus tricarpaA

ASpecies selected from the same subgenera, section and subsection as a species included in the eucalypt phylogeny (see text).