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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences
Ecological Strategies In California Chaparral: Interacting Effects Of Soils, Climate, And Fire On Specific Leaf Area, Brian Anacker, Nishanta Rajakaruna, David D. Ackerly, Susan Harrison, Jon Keeley, Michael Vasey
Ecological Strategies In California Chaparral: Interacting Effects Of Soils, Climate, And Fire On Specific Leaf Area, Brian Anacker, Nishanta Rajakaruna, David D. Ackerly, Susan Harrison, Jon Keeley, Michael Vasey
Biological Sciences
Background: High values of specific leaf area (SLA) are generally associated with high maximal growth rates in resource-rich conditions, such as mesic climates and fertile soils. However, fire may complicate this relationship since its frequency varies with both climate and soil fertility, and fire frequency selects for regeneration strategies (resprouting versus seeding) that are not independent of resource-acquisition strategies. Shared ancestry is also expected to affect the distribution of resource-use and regeneration traits.
Aims: We examined climate, soil, and fire as drivers of community-level variation in a key functional trait, SLA, in chaparral in California.
Methods: We quantified the phylogenetic, …