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Ecotype adaptation and acclimation of leaf traits to rainfall in 29 species of 16-year-old Eucalyptus at two common gardens

  1. C. R. WARREN1,†,*,
  2. E. DREYER2,
  3. M. TAUSZ1,
  4. M. A. ADAMS3

Article first published online: 24 OCT 2006

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2006.01198.x

Issue

Functional Ecology

Functional Ecology

Volume 20, Issue 6, pages 929–940, December 2006

Additional Information

How to Cite

WARREN, C. R., DREYER, E., TAUSZ, M. and ADAMS, M. A. (2006), Ecotype adaptation and acclimation of leaf traits to rainfall in 29 species of 16-year-old Eucalyptus at two common gardens. Functional Ecology, 20: 929–940. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2435.2006.01198.x

Author Information

  1. 1

    School of Forest and Ecosystem Science, University of Melbourne, Water Street, Creswick, VIC 3363, Australia,

  2. 2

    UMR INRA-UHP, Ecologie et Ecophysiologie Forestières, F54280 Champenoux, France, and

  3. 3

    Ecology and Ecosystem Science, School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia

  1. †

    Present address: School of Biological Sciences, The University of Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.

* †Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: charles.warren@bio.usyd.edu.au

Publication History

  1. Issue published online: 24 OCT 2006
  2. Article first published online: 24 OCT 2006
  3. Received 23 June 2006; revised 7 August 2006; accepted 7 August 2006Editor: J. Dalling

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Keywords:

  • leaf morphology;
  • Rubisco;
  • nitrogen;
  • specific leaf area;
  • water-use efficiency

Summary

  • 1
    Relationships of leaf traits with rainfall at the place of origin of seed (RPO) are a function of acclimation and adaptation. To disentangle these effects we studied 29 species of 16-year-old Eucalyptus at a productive and an unproductive common garden (mean annual increments of above-ground stem volume = 21 ± 11 and 8 ± 5 m3 ha−1 years−1, respectively).We tested three hypotheses: (i) leaf traits vary between sites, but relationships among them do not; (ii) relationships of leaf traits with RPO do not vary between sites; and (iii) ecotypes originating from low-rainfall areas allocate a small fraction of nitrogen to thylakoid proteins and Rubisco, and have small SLA, small and narrow leaves, and large water-use efficiency (WUE).
  • 2
    Eleven leaf traits (leaf area, leaf thickness, leaf width/length, specific leaf area, fresh weight/dry weight, N, chlorophyll a/b, carotenoids/chlorophyll, thylakoid N%, Rubisco N%, WUE derived from 13C content) were measured in 1-year-old sun leaves.
  • 3
    Site had a large effect on not only the absolute values of leaf traits, but also relationships between pairs of traits. There were 20 significant correlations between pairs of traits. Three of the correlations had different slopes between sites, while a further nine had different intercepts. Hence the majority of significant correlations were not independent of site.
  • 4
    Leaf area and leaf width/length were the only traits related to RPO. There was no evidence that N allocation to Rubisco or thylakoid proteins was related to RPO, or that WUE was greater in ecotypes from dry areas.
  • 5
    For Eucalyptus, and perhaps other genera, physiological leaf traits may play a minor role in adaptation to water availability. There is large phenotypic plasticity in many leaf traits affecting not only the absolute values of traits, but also relationships among them.
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