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Post-­Fire Alterations In Mechanical Strength Of Leaves In Heteromeles Arbutifolia, Andrew Hair, Madeline Dilascia, Nick Novella, Taylor Wurdeman

Featured Research

Wildfires in the Santa Monica mountains in Southern California burn down a decent percentage of the local vegetation. However, some plants like Heteromeles Arbutifolia, are considered to be resprouters because they return a mere two years after being burnt down. It is hypothesized that the artificially browsed resprout leaves will have a lower tensile strength than both the young and adult leaves because they use a lower amount of carbohydrates per unit-leaf-area. Data showed that although there was a slight different between the young leaves and the adult leaves of the Heteromeles, there was no statistically significant difference between the …