New Zealand Journal of Botany abstracts
A morphological comparison of leaf heteroblasty between New
Caledonia and New Zealand
K. C. Burns
John W. Dawson
School of Biological Sciences
Victoria University of Wellington
PO Box 600
Wellington 6140, New Zealand
kevin.burns@vuw.ac.nz
Abstract Leaf heteroblasty, or pronounced
changes in leaf morphology during plant development, is a conspicuous
phenomenon on many isolated islands. However, morphological comparisons
have not been made between islands, and the processes responsible for
island heteroblasty are poorly understood. We investigated differences
in leaf morphology of heteroblastic trees and shrubs in New Caledonia
and New Zealand. Heteroblastic leaves were collected in field searches
in several comparable habitat types in both countries. Leaf area,
lobing, and degree of circularity were measured on juvenile and adult
leaves from 31 species belonging to 19 plant families. Multivariate
analysis of variance was then used to compare ontogenetic changes in
leaf morphology between countries. Results showed that juvenile leaves
were smaller and more lobed than adult leaves. Life history stage did
not interact with country, indicating that morphological shifts between
juvenile and adult leaves did not differ between New Caledonia and New
Zealand. We conclude that island heteroblasty is similar in both
locales, despite their strongly different climates, and the phenomenon
likely results from some aspect of their shared geological history.
Keywords coevolution; convergence; island; leaf;
morphology; ontogeny
B06017; Online publication date 6 November 2006 Received 15 May 2006;
accepted 17 October 2006
New Zealand Journal of Botany, 2006, Vol. 44: 387–396
0028–825X/06/4404–0387 © The Royal Society of New Zealand
2006
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