JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Ecological Society of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ecology.Abstract. All vascular plant species were listed on eight sites near Sydney, Australia. Four sites were on infertile and four on fertile soil. Each of the 335 species was classified according to seed mass (measured as fresh mass of embryo plus endosperm), morphological adaptations for dispersal by different vectors, and growth form. The infertile-soil sites had more species and more cover adapted for dispersal by ants, and the fertile-soil sites had more species and more cover with fleshy fruits adapted for dispersal by vertebrates. We tested the hypothesis that this difference could be interpreted as a secondary correlate of seed size or of growth form. Species with smaller seed mass or growing to <2 m tall were significantly more likely to be adapted for dispersal by ants relative to vertebrates. An indirect association via growth form was capable of accounting for up to 84% of the relationship between soil type and dispersal mode, an indirect association via seed mass for up to 23% of the relationship; the two together could account for a maximum of 85%. The indirect association via seed mass was relatively weaker because seed masses proved not to be very different between these soil types. There remained a significant residual tendency for species in any given seed size class and growth form to be more likely to be dispersed by vertebrates relative to ants on fertile soils than on infertile soils.

At focal sites within dry sclerophyll woodland and temperate rain forest, species were identified that were of low local abundance and hence in the tail of the rankabundance curve. We then asked the question: What proportion of tail species within a given community are constitutive members of the tail everywhere throughout their geographical range, versus what proportion are found as substantially more abundant somewhere within their range? Out of 55 tail species identified from dry sclerophyll woodland and 116 tail species identified from temperate rain forest, 91% and 95%, respectively, were significantly more abundant at other locations (''somewhere-abundant'' species), versus 9% and 5% ''everywhere-sparse'' species. Among eight attributes in dry sclerophyll woodland and nine attributes in temperate rain forest compared between somewhere-abundant and everywhere-sparse species, none discriminated consistently between the two groups of species. The size and dispersal morphology of seeds, flowering and fruiting durations and seasons, regeneration strategy after fire, size of geographical ranges, maximum plant height, and size class revealed no consistent distinctions. For the small minority of species that are everywhere-sparse, some general explanation may exist as to why they are in the tail of rank-abundance curves, though none was located among the attributes compared in this paper. For the majority of tail species that are somewhere-abundant, any explanation as to why they are in the tail will need to account for different outcomes in different places.

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. Ecological Society of America is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Ecology. Abstract.At focal sites within dry sclerophyll woodland and temperate rain forest, species were identified that were of low local abundance and hence in the tail of the rankabundance curve. We then asked the question: What proportion of tail species within a given community are constitutive members of the tail everywhere throughout their geographical range, versus what proportion are found as substantially more abundant somewhere within their range? Out of 55 tail species identified from dry sclerophyll woodland and 116 tail species identified from temperate rain forest, 91% and 95%, respectively, were significantly more abundant at other locations ("somewhere-abundant" species), versus 9% and 5% "everywhere-sparse" species. Among eight attributes in dry sclerophyll woodland and nine attributes in temperate rain forest compared between somewhere-abundant and everywhere-sparse species, none discriminated consistently between the two groups of species. The size and dispersal morphology of seeds, flowering and fruiting durations and seasons, regeneration strategy after fire, size of geographical ranges, maximum plant height, and size class revealed no consistent distinctions. For the small minority of species that are everywhere-sparse, some general explanation may exist as to why they are in the tail of rank-abundance curves, though none was located among the attributes compared in this paper. For the majority of tail species that are somewhere-abundant, any explanation as to why they are in the tail will need to account for different outcomes in different places. pirical work on local abundance has focused on fluctuations in the numbers of individuals of a species through time at one location, or among a small number of communities, and has also tried to support or reject the various theories regarding curve structure (e.g., This work has clarified a number of important issues; however, broad generalizable patterns between particular curve structures and particular underlying mechanisms have yet to be found. The present paper investigates rank-abundance curves from a different perspective, employing a macroecological approach to explore how the local abundance of species is related to abundance throughout entire geographical ranges.Some empirical studies have investigated species' abundances across entire or nearly entire geographical ranges (Hanski 1982. Hengeveld and Haeck 1982. Ra- 1806

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of measurements of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 375 traits across 29230 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxa descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological parameters (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual-, species- and genus-level observations coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties. This data descriptor provides information on version 2.1.0 of AusTraits which contains data for 937243 trait-by-taxa combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data to increase our collective understanding of the Australian flora.

We introduce the AusTraits database - a compilation of values of plant traits for taxa in the Australian flora (hereafter AusTraits). AusTraits synthesises data on 448 traits across 28,640 taxa from field campaigns, published literature, taxonomic monographs, and individual taxon descriptions. Traits vary in scope from physiological measures of performance (e.g. photosynthetic gas exchange, water-use efficiency) to morphological attributes (e.g. leaf area, seed mass, plant height) which link to aspects of ecological variation. AusTraits contains curated and harmonised individual- and species-level measurements coupled to, where available, contextual information on site properties and experimental conditions. This article provides information on version 3.0.2 of AusTraits which contains data for 997,808 trait-by-taxon combinations. We envision AusTraits as an ongoing collaborative initiative for easily archiving and sharing trait data, which also provides a template for other national or regional initiatives globally to fill persistent gaps in trait knowledge.