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 > BT07150
RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 56(5)

Plant trait–environmental linkages among contrasting landscapes and climate regimes in temperate eucalypt woodlands

Karen E. Wills A C and Peter J. Clarke B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Plant Science, Private Bag 55, University of Tasmania, Hobart, Tas. 7001, Australia.

B Botany, University of New England, Armidale, NSW 2351, Australia.

C Corresponding author. Email: karen.wills@utas.edu.au

Australian Journal of Botany 56(5) 422-432 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT07150
Submitted: 6 August 2007  Accepted: 22 April 2008   Published: 24 July 2008

Abstract

Ecological sorting of species along climate and landscape gradients is a fundamental global pattern. However, the extent to which functional traits reflect floristic turnover in response to interactions between climate and landscape gradients is rarely assessed. We tested whether floristic variation among sites within a bioregion was more strongly correlated with soil fertility or climate. We then examined the relationship between floristic composition, environment and the co-variation of selected vegetative and regenerative functional traits. This allowed us to assess the ecological sorting of species along soil fertility and rainfall gradients and to detect any resource compensation effects via interactions between these factors. Floristic differences were equally associated with soil fertility and climate contrasts but species’ trait patterns were more strongly associated with soil fertility than rainfall. No interactive effects, which would suggest resource compensation, were detected. Instead, more fertile sites consistently had more forbs, annuals and grasses in comparison with less fertile sites which were dominated by woody species and had a higher abundance of graminoids. Three broad mechanisms for sorting of species based on trait patterns are proposed (1) differences in the fundamental regenerative and growth niche, (2) resource competition during establishment and (3) disturbance-mediated sorting.


Acknowledgements

We thank the New South Wales Parks and Wildlife Service for their assistance with this research. John Hunter provided data for some of the vegetation surveys. Catherine Nano and Lachlan Copeland assisted with fieldwork. Financial support was provided to KEW from an Australian Postgraduate Award and an NCW Beadle award.


References


Archibald S, Bond WJ, Stock WD, Fairbanks DHK (2005) Shaping the landscape: fire–grazer interactions in an African savanna. Ecological Applications 15, 96–109.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Beadle NCW (1966) Soil phosphate and its role in molding segments of the Australian flora and vegetation, with special reference to xeromorphy and sclerophylly. Ecology 47, 992–1007.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Beadle NCW (1981) ‘The vegetation of Australia.’ (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK)

Benson D, McDougall L (1996) Ecology of Sydney plant species Part 4: dicotyledon family Fabaceae. Cunninghamia 4, 553–752. open url image1

Benson JS, Ashby EM (2000) Vegetation of the Guyra 1 : 100 000 map sheet New England Bioregion, New South Wales. Cunninghamia 6, 747–872. open url image1

Bond WJ, Honig M, Maze KE (1999) Seed size and seedling emergence: an allometric relationship and some ecological implications. Oecologia 120, 132–136.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Brunker RL , Chesnut WS (1976) Grafton 1 : 250 000 Geological Sheet SH/56–06. (Geological Survey of New South Wales: Sydney)

Busby JR (1991) Bioclim: a bioclimate analysis and prediction system. Plant Protection Quarterly 6, 6–9. open url image1

Chapin FS (1980) The mineral-nutrition of wild plants. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 11, 233–260.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Cingolani AM, Cabido M, Gurvich DE, Renison D, Diaz S (2007) Filtering processes in the assembly of plant communities: are species presence and abundance driven by the same traits? Journal of Vegetation Science 18, 911–920.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Clarke PJ (2002) Habitat insularity and fire response traits: evidence from a sclerophyll archipelago. Oecologia 132, 582–591.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Clarke PJ (2003) Composition of grazed and cleared temperate grassy woodlands in eastern Australia: patterns in space and inferences in time. Journal of Vegetation Science 14, 5–14.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Clarke PJ, Knox KJE (2002) Post-fire response of shrubs in the tablelands of eastern Australia: do existing models explain habitat differences? Australian Journal of Botany 50, 53–62.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Clarke PJ , Copeland LM , Hunter JT , Nano CE , Williams JB , Wills KE (1997) The vegetation and plant species of Torrington State Recreation Area. Report to New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. University of New England, Armidale, NSW.

Clarke PJ , Copeland LM , Noble NE , Bale CL , Williams JB (2000 a) The vegetation and plant species of New England National Park. Report to New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service. University of New England, Armidale, NSW.

Clarke PJ, Davison EA, Fulloon L (2000b) Germination and dormancy of grassy woodland and forest species: effects of smoke, heat, darkness and cold. Australian Journal of Botany 48, 687–700.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Clarke PJ, Knox KJE, Wills KE, Campbell M (2005) Landscape patterns of woody plant response to crown fire: disturbance and productivity influence sprouting ability. Journal of Ecology 93, 544–555.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Cornelissen JHC, Lavorel S, Garnier E, Diaz S, Buchmann N, Gurvich DE, Reich PB, ter Steege H, Morgan HD, van der Heijden MGA, Pausas JG, Poorter H (2003) A handbook of protocols for standardised and easy measurement of plant functional traits worldwide. Australian Journal of Botany 51, 335–380.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Cox CB , Healey IN , Moore PD (1976) ‘Biogeography: an ecological and evolutionary approach.’ (Blackwell Scientific Publications: Oxford)

Day PR (1965) Particle fractionation and particle-size analysis. In ‘Methods of soil analysis. Part 1: Physical and mineralogical properties, including statistics of measurement and sampling’. (Eds CA Black, DD Evans, LE Ensminger, JL White, FE Clark). (American Society of Agronomy, Inc.: Madison, WI)

De Bello F, Leps J, Sebastia MT (2005) Predictive value of plant traits to grazing along a climatic gradient in the Mediterranean. Journal of Applied Ecology 42, 824–833.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Denton MD, Veneklaas EJ, Freimoser FM, Lambers H (2007) Banksia species (Proteaceae) from severely phosphorus-impoverished soils exhibit extreme efficiency in the use and re-mobilization of phosphorus. Plant, Cell & Environment 30, 1557–1565.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Diaz S, Cabido M, Casanoves F (1998) Plant functional traits and environmental filters at a regional scale. Journal of Vegetation Science 9, 113–122.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Diaz S , Cabido M , Casanoves F (1999) Functional implications of trait-environment linkages in plant communities. In ‘Ecological assembly rules: perspectives, advances and retreats’. (Eds E Weiher, P Keddy) pp. 338–362. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK)

Diaz S, Hodgson JG, Thompson K, Cabido M, Cornelissen JHC, Jalili A, Montserrat-Martí G, Grime JP, Zarrinkamar F, Asri Y, Band SR, Basconcelo S, Castro-Díez P, Funes G, Hamzehee B, Khoshnevi M, Pérez-Harguindeguy N, Pérez-Rontomé MC, Shirvany FA, Vendramini F, Yazdani S, Abbas-Azimi R, Bogaard A, Boustani S, Charles M, Dehghan M, de Torres-Espuny L, Falczuk V, Guerrero-Campo J, Hynd A, Jones G, Kowsary E, Kazemi-Saeed F, Maestro-Martínez M, Romo-Díez A, Shaw S, Siavash B, Villar-Salvador P, Zak MR (2004) The plant traits that drive ecosystems: evidence from three continents. Journal of Vegetation Science 15, 295–304.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Dodd MB, Lauenroth WK (1997) The influence of soil texture on the soil water dynamics and vegetation structure of a shortgrass steppe ecosystem. Plant Ecology 133, 13–28.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Dodd MB, Lauenroth WK, Burke IC, Chapman PL (2002) Associations between vegetation patterns and soil texture in the shortgrass steppe. Plant Ecology 158, 127–137.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Epstein HE, Chapin FS, Walker MD, Starfield AM (2001) Analyzing the functional type concept in arctic plants using a dynamic vegetation model. Oikos 95, 239–252.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Fonseca CR, Overton JM, Collins B, Westoby M (2000) Shifts in trait-combinations along rainfall and phosphorus gradients. Journal of Ecology 88, 964–977.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Garnier E, Lavorel S, Ansquer P, Castro H, Cruz P, Dolezal J, Eriksson O, Fortunel C, Freitas H, Golodets C, Grigulis K, Jouany C, Kazakou E, Kigel J, Kleyer M, Lehsten V, Leps J, Meier T, Pakeman R, Papadimitriou M, Papanastasis VP, Quested H, Quetier F, Robson M, Roumet C, Rusch G, Skarpe C, Sternberg M, Theau JP, Thebault A, Vile D, Zarovali MP (2007) Assessing the effects of land-use change on plant traits, communities and ecosystem functioning in grasslands: a standardized methodology and lessons from an application to 11 European sites. Annals of Botany 99, 967–985.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Gilligan LB , Brownlow JW , Cameron RG , Henley HF (1992) Dorrigo–Coffs Harbour 1 : 250 000 Metallogenic Map. (Geological Survey of New South Wales: Sydney)

Gitay H , Noble IR (1997) What are functional types and how should we seek them? In ‘Plant functional types. Their relevance to ecosystem properties and global change’. (Eds TM Smith, HH Shugart, FI Woodward) pp. 3–19. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK)

Graves JH, Peet RK, White PS (2006) The influence of carbon-nutrient balance on herb and woody plant abundance in temperate forest understories. Journal of Vegetation Science 17, 217–226.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Grime JP (2001) ‘Plant strategies and vegetation processes.’ (Wiley: Chichester, UK)

Grime JP, Hunt R (1975) Relative growth-rate—its range and adaptive significance in a local flora. Journal of Ecology 63, 393–422.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Groves RH, Keraitis K (1976) Survival and growth of seedlings of three sclerophyll species at high levels of phosphorous and nitrogen. Australian Journal of Botany 24, 681–690.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Handreck KA (1997) Phosphorus requirements of Australian native plants. Australian Journal of Soil Research 35, 241–289.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Hanley ME, Unna JE, Darvill B (2003) Seed size and germination response: a relationship for fire-following plant species exposed to thermal shock. Oecologia 134, 18–22.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Hanley ME, Cordier PK, May O, Kelly CK (2007) Seed size and seedling growth: differential response of Australian and British Fabaceae to nutrient limitation. New Phytologist 174, 381–388.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Harden GJ (1990) ‘Flora of New South Wales.’ (New South Wales University Press: Kensington, Sydney)

Harden GJ (1991) ‘Flora of New South Wales.’ (New South Wales University Press: Kensington, Sydney)

Harden GJ (1992) ‘Flora of New South Wales.’ (New South Wales University Press: Kensington, Sydney)

Harden GJ (1993) ‘Flora of New South Wales.’ (New South Wales University Press: Kensington, Sydney)

Harrington GN (1991) Effects of soil moisture on shrub seedling survival in a semi-arid grassland. Ecology 72, 1138–1149.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Herbert DA, Rastetter EB, Shaver GR, Agren GI (1999) Effects of plant growth characteristics on biogeochemistry and community composition in a changing climate. Ecosystems 2, 367–382.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Hunter JT (1999) Floristics and biogeography of the granitic outcrop flora of the New England Batholith. PhD Thesis, University of New England, Armidale, NSW.

Keith D (1994) Floristics, structure and diversity of natural vegetation in the O’Hares Creek catchment south of Sydney. Cunninghamia 3, 543–594. open url image1

Keith DA, Sanders JM (1990) Vegetation of the Eden region, south-eastern Australia: species composition, diversity and structure. Journal of Vegetation Science 1, 203–232.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Knoop WT, Walker BH (1985) Interactions of woody and herbaceous vegetation in Southern African savanna. Journal of Ecology 83, 235–253. open url image1

Knox KJE, Clarke PJ (2006) Response of resprouting shrubs to repeated fires in the dry sclerophyll forest of Gibraltar Range National Park. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 127, 49–56. open url image1

Lavorel S, McIntyre S, Landsberg L, Forbes TDA (1997) Plant functional classifications: from general groups to specific groups based on response to disturbance. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 12, 474–478.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Le Brocque AF, Buckney RT (1994) Vegetation and environmental patterns on soil derived from Hawkesbury sandstone and Narrabeen substrata in Ku-ring-gai National Park, New South Wales. Australian Journal of Ecology 19, 229–238. open url image1

Leishman MR, Westoby M, Jurado E (1995) Correlates of seed size variation—a comparison among 5 temperate floras. Journal of Ecology 83, 517–529.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Lunt ID (1997) A multivariate growth form analysis of grassland and forest forbs in south-eastern Australia. Australian Journal of Botany 45, 691–705.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

McIntyre S, Lavorel S (2001) Livestock grazing in subtropical pastures: steps in the analysis of attribute response and plant functional types. Journal of Ecology 89, 209–226.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

McIntyre S , McIvor JG (1998) Diversity and sustainability in grassy eucalypt ecosystems. Land and Water Resources Research and Development Corporation, Canberra.

McIntyre S, Lavorel S, Tremont RM (1995) Plant life-history attributes: their relationship to disturbance response in herbaceous vegetation. Journal of Ecology 83, 31–44.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Milberg P, Perez-Fernandez MA, Lamont BB (1998) Seedling growth response to added nutrients depends on seed size in three woody genera. Journal of Ecology 86, 624–632.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Moles AT, Ackerly DD, Webb CO, Tweddle JC, Dickie JB, Westoby M (2005) A brief history of seed size. Science 307, 576–580.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Moles AT, Ackerly DD, Tweddle JC, Dickie JB, Smith R, Leishman MR, Mayfield MM, Pitman A, Wood JT, Westoby M (2007) Global patterns in seed size. Global Ecology and Biogeography 16, 109–116.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Morgan G , Terrey J (1990) Land conservation for the New England Tableland: a regional plan. (World Wide Fund For Nature: Australia)

Morrison D (1995) Some effects of low-intensity fires on populations of co-occurring small trees in the Sydney region. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales 115, 109–119. open url image1

Morrison DA, Le Brocque AF, Clarke PJ (1995) An assessment of some improved techniques for estimating the abundance (frequency) of sedentary organisms. Vegetation 120, 131–145.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Outhred RK (1984) Semi-quantitative sampling in vegetation survey. In ‘Survey methods for nature conservation’. (Eds K Myers, CR Margules, I Minto) pp. 87–100. (CSIRO, Division of Water and Land Resources: Canberra)

Poorter L (2007) Are species adapted to their regeneration niche, adult niche, or both? American Naturalist 169, 433–442.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Quetier F, Lavorel S, Thuiller W, Davies I (2007) Plant-trait-based modelling assessment of ecosystem-service sensitivity to land-use change. Ecological Applications 17, 2377–2386.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | PubMed | open url image1

Ridley WF (1962) Vegetal distribution relative to geology in a complex part of south-east Queensland. Proceedings of the Royal Society of Queensland 73, 45–59. open url image1

Sala OE, Golluscio RA, Lauenroth WK, Soriano A (1989) Resource partitioning between shrubs and grasses in the Patagonian steppe. Oecologia 81, 501–505.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Sala OE , Lauenroth WK , Golluscio RA (1997) Plant functional types in temperate semi-arid regions. In ‘Plant functional types: their relevance to ecosystem properties and global change’. (Eds TM Smith, HH Shugart, FI Woodward) pp. 217–233. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK)

Specht RL (1963) Dark Island heath (Ninety Mile Plain, South Australia). VII. The effect of fertilizers on composition and growth. Australian Journal of Botany 11, 67–94.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Specht RL, Perry RA (1948) The plant ecology of part of the Mount Lofty Ranges (1). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia 72, 91–132. open url image1

Stephens DW , Krebs JR (1986) ‘Foraging theory.’ (Princeton University Press: Princeton, NJ)

Stock WD, Pate JS, Delfs J (1990) Influence of seed size and quality on seedling development under low nutrient conditions in five Australian and South African members of the Proteaceae. Journal of Ecology 78, 1005–1020.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

ter Braak CJF (1986) Canonical correspondence analysis: a new eigenvector technique for multivariate direct gradient analysis. Ecology 67, 1167–1179.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

ter Braak CJF (1994) Canonical community ordination. Part I: basic theory and linear models. Ecoscience 1, 127–140. open url image1

ter Braak CFJ , Smilauer P (1998) ‘CANOCO reference manual and user’s guide to CANOCO for Windows: software for canonical community ordination. Version 4.’ (Microcomputer Power: Ithaca, NY)

ter Braak CJF, Verdonschot PFM (1995) Canonical correspondence analysis and related multivariate methods in aquatic ecology. Aquatic Sciences 57, 153–187.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Tremont RM, McIntyre S (1994) Natural grassy vegetation and native forbs: structure, dynamics and life histories. Australian Journal of Botany 42, 641–658.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Van der Werf A, Van Nuenen M, Visser AJ, Lambers H (1993) Contribution of physiological and morphological plant traits to a species competitive ability at high and low nitrogen supply—a hypothesis for inherently fast-growing and slow-growing monocotyledonous species. Oecologia 94, 434–440.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

van Wijk MT (2007) Predicting ecosystem functioning from plant traits: results from a multi-scale ecophysiological modelling approach. Ecological Modelling 203, 453–463.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Vesk PA, Westoby M (2004) Sprouting ability across diverse disturbances and vegetation types worldwide. Journal of Ecology 92, 310–320.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Westoby M, Wright IJ (2006) Land-plant ecology on the basis of functional traits. Trends in Ecology & Evolution 21, 261–268.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Westoby M, French K, Hughes L, Rice B, Rodgerson L (1991) Why do more plant-species use ants for dispersal on infertile compared with fertile soils. Australian Journal of Ecology 16, 445–455.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Westoby M, Falster DS, Moles AT, Vesk PA, Wright IJ (2002) Plant ecological strategies: some leading dimensions of variation between species. Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 33, 125–159.
| Crossref | GoogleScholarGoogle Scholar | open url image1

Wheeler DJB , Jacobs SWL , Norton BE (1990) ‘Grasses of New South Wales.’ (University of New England: Armidale, NSW)

Wilson SD (1998) Competition between grasses and woody plants. In ‘Population biology of grasses’. (Ed. GP Cheplick) pp. 231–254. (Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, UK)