Casuarina ecology: factors limiting cone production in the drooping sheoak, Allocasuarina verticillata

Tamra F. Chapman; David C. Paton

doi:10.1071/BT06089

RESEARCH ARTICLE

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Casuarina ecology: factors limiting cone production in the drooping sheoak, Allocasuarina verticillata

Tamra F. Chapman ^A ^B and David C. Paton ^A

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A Discipline of Environmental Biology, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.

^B Corresponding author. Present address: Department of Environment and Conservation, Locked Bag 104, Bentley Delivery Centre, Bentley, WA 6983, Australia. Email: tamra.chapman@dec.wa.gov.au

Australian Journal of Botany 55(2) 171-177 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT06089
Submitted: 1 May 2006 Accepted: 20 November 2006 Published: 16 March 2007

Abstract

Allocasuarina verticillata is an important species for biodiversity conservation on Kangaroo Island (South Australia) because it is the primary food source for the endangered glossy black-cockatoo, Calyptorhynchus lathami halmaturinus. Two potentially limiting factors, pollen and soil nutrients, were studied in the context of A. verticillata as foraging habitat for glossy black-cockatoos. Cone production was not limited by the amount of pollen available to female plants. The soils on which A. verticillata occurs on Kangaroo Island were low in nutrients. Available N, P and K were significantly increased via the application of slow-release fertiliser and the added nutrients resulted in a corresponding increase in the productivity of A. verticillata. The additional nutrients increased the number of cones produced on female branches, branch growth and potentially therefore, tree size. Since cone profitability appears to increase with tree size, the additional growth may also result in greater cone profitability in the long term. Adding slow-release fertiliser to small female A. verticillata trees and revegetation on sites with higher concentrations of soil nutrients would benefit the cockatoos. This is because other studies have shown that the cockatoos increase their foraging efficiency by cropping cones from large trees with greater cone profitability and branches with high densities of cones.

Acknowledgements

This study was conducted as part of the glossy black-cockatoo recovery program and was supported by an Australian Postgraduate Research Award. Additional support came from the Australian Research Council, the Wildlife Conservation Fund, the South Australian National Parks Foundation and the Save the Bush Fund. Gabriel Crowley assisted with the development of seed and soil measures and with the interpretation of the results. The many people who assisted with fieldwork are listed in Chapman (2005). We used the laboratory facilities and administrative services of the Discipline of Environmental Biology at the University of Adelaide and at the Species and Communities Branch of the Department of Environment and Conservation, Perth, to carry out this project. Two anonymous referees improved the paper via constructive criticism.

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Casuarina ecology: factors limiting cone production in the drooping sheoak, Allocasuarina verticillata

Abstract

Acknowledgements

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