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Seed mass and seedling establishment after fire in Ku‐ring‐gai Chase National Park, Sydney, Australia
Author(s) -
MOLES ANGELA T.,
WESTOBY MARK
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
austral ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.688
H-Index - 87
eISSN - 1442-9993
pISSN - 1442-9985
DOI - 10.1111/j.1442-9993.2004.01374.x
Subject(s) - seedling , national park , competition (biology) , herbivore , biology , ecology , botany
Relationships between seed mass and several aspects of plant regeneration ecology were investigated in a post‐fire environment in Ku‐ring‐gai Chase National Park near Sydney, Australia. We found a significant positive relationship between seed mass and time to seedling emergence ( P < 0.001) and a strong negative relationship between seed mass and time between emergence and production of the first true leaf ( P < 0.001). Surprisingly, we found no relationship between seed mass and seedling establishment ( P = 0.21). It seems most likely that this lack of relationship is a result of the many stochastic factors affecting seedling establishment during any given recruitment episode at any given site. A cause of mortality was assigned to 56% of the 781 seedlings that died during the present study. There was no relationship between cause of death and seed mass ( P = 0.28). Of the seedlings for which the cause of death was known, 57% were killed by herbivory and 21% were killed by drought. Seedling–seedling competition affected only one species.