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Seedling Growth Rates And Light Requirements Of Subtropical Rainforest Trees Associated With Basaltic And Rhyolitic Soils, C H. Lusk, Kerrie M. Sendall, P J. Clarke

Kerrie M Sendall

A trade-off between shade tolerance and growth in open conditions is widely believed to underlie the dynamics of humid forests. Little is known about how the growth versus shade tolerance trade-off interacts with other major trade-offs associated with differential adaptation to major environmental factors besides light. We asked whether the growth versus shade tolerance trade-off differed between subtropical rainforest tree assemblages native to basaltic (fertile) and rhyolitic (infertile) soils in northern New South Wales, because of the allocational costs of adaptation to low nutrient availability. Seedling relative growth rates of six basalt specialists and five rhyolite specialists were measured in …