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Woody species in resource-rich microrefugia of granite outcrops display unique functional signatures
- Publication Year :
- 2019
- Publisher :
- Wiley : Australia, 2019.
-
Abstract
- Refugia are key environments in biogeography and conservation. Because of their unique eco-evolutionary formation and functioning, they should display distinct functional trait signatures. However, comparative trait-based studies of plants in refugia and non-refugia are lacking. Here, we provide a comparison between resource-rich (putative microrefugia for species preferring mesic habitats under increasing aridity) and resource-impoverished woodlands (non-refugia) around two granite outcrops in south-western Australia. We measured and compared six functional traits (bark thickness, foliar δ13C, foliar C:N, leaf dry matter content, plant height, specific leaf area) in four woody species. We performed multiple-trait, multiple-species and single-trait, within-species analyses to test whether plants in resource-rich habitats were functionally distinct and more diverse than those in the surrounding resource-impoverished woodlands. We found that species in resource-rich woodlands occupied larger and distinct multiple-trait functional spaces and showed distinct single-trait values (for specific leaf area and bark thickness). This suggests that plants in resource-rich woodlands can deploy unique and more diverse ecological strategies, potentially making these putative microrefugia more resilient to environmental changes. These findings suggest that species in microrefugia may be characterised by unique functional signatures, illustrating the utility of comparative trait-based approaches to improve understanding of the functioning of refugia. Refereed/Peer-reviewed
- Subjects :
- 0106 biological sciences
Ecology
Specific leaf area
Outcrop
010604 marine biology & hydrobiology
Biogeography
intraspecific trait variability
south‐western Australia
Woodland
15. Life on land
Biology
global biodiversity hotspot
010603 evolutionary biology
01 natural sciences
Arid
functional biogeography
Habitat
visual_art
habitat islands
Trait
visual_art.visual_art_medium
Bark
conservation planning
Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....85a988af82f29555e64a843f7e37106b