caa a22 4500 475751574 CHVBK 20180406123525.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170329e20000601xx s 000 0 eng 10.1023/A:1009834425538 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1023/A:1009834425538 Effects of leaf litter on woody seedlings in xeric successional communities [Elektronische Daten] [Graeme Hastwell, José Facelli] We investigated the effect of leaf litter on the establishment of Eucalyptus incrassata, a mallee eucalypt. It has been suggested that litter accumulation may hinder seedling establishment, and that the removal of litter may be one of the mechanisms through which fire enhances recruitment. We conducted factorial experiments testing the effects of three kinds of leaf litter on E. incrassata seeds and seedlings at three contiguous sites with different land use histories. One site was an uncleared E. incrassata open mallee woodland (Mallee site), one a cleared area that had been ungrazed for about five years (Pasture site) and the third an area of mallee rolled some 40 years ago and permitted to regenerate (Regrowth site). Litter had no effect on emergence of planted E. incrassata seeds, but emergence differed between sites. Overall, the percentage of seeds that germinated and emerged was substantial (mean 35.2% ± 25.9%). Seedling shoot biomass did not differ between sites or litter treatments. Although seedlings grown in Pasture litter suffered higher mortality rates, overall mortality rates were low (mean 13.2% ± 15.5%), suggesting that leaf litter has little effect on recruitment rates during winter and spring. We conclude that leaf litter does not affect emergence or growth in young E. incrassata seedlings during winter and spring, when most establishment occurs. Our results emphasize the difficulty in predicting litter effects on recruitment. Kluwer Academic Publishers, 2000 Eucalyptus incrassata nationallicence Herbivory nationallicence Leaf litter nationallicence Old fields nationallicence Seedling emergence nationallicence Seedling establishment nationallicence Hastwell Graeme Department of Environmental Biology, The University of Adelaide, 5005, Adelaide, SA, Australia aut Facelli José Department of Environmental Biology, The University of Adelaide, 5005, Adelaide, SA, Australia aut Plant Ecology Kluwer Academic Publishers 148/2(2000-06-01), 225-231 1385-0237 148:2<225 2000 148 11258 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009834425538 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009834425538 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Hastwell Graeme Department of Environmental Biology, The University of Adelaide, 5005, Adelaide, SA, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Facelli José Department of Environmental Biology, The University of Adelaide, 5005, Adelaide, SA, Australia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Plant Ecology Kluwer Academic Publishers 148/2(2000-06-01), 225-231 1385-0237 148:2<225 2000 148 11258 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer