Q. What adaptations do Sclerophyll plants possess?
What are the adaptations of sclerophylls?
- often small leaf size.
- short internodes.
- proportionally thick leaves.
- reduced surface area/volume ratio.
Q. Why are Sclerophyll plants adapted to infertile soil?
Sclerophylly is a common feature of vegetation on infertile soils, and its adaptive significance has been linked to nutrient-use efficiency by protection of leaves to maximise carbon gain.
Q. What are the characteristics of a dry Sclerophyll forest?
Dry sclerophyll forests occur on low-nutrient soils which makes them unsuitable for most forms of agriculture, and as a consequence they have been less cleared and modified than many other vegetation formations. Dry sclerophyll forests are relatively resilient to weed invasion, also due to low soil fertility.
Q. What is a wet Sclerophyll forest?
Wet sclerophyll forest is characterised by very tall eucalypt trees (and their close relatives) which form the upper canopy layer. The understorey of wet sclerophyll forest can contain shrubs and small trees (often with rainforest species) or may be grassy with scattered shrubs.
Q. What is a dry Sclerophyll?
Dry sclerophyll forest, then, is a community of tall, closely growing trees that are mostly eucalypts. These tall forests with floors covered with sclerophyllous shrubs, such as acacias and peas, develop on drier ridges and droughtier soils than wet sclerophyll forests, which have dense, wet ferny floors.
Q. What does Sclerophyll mean?
Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that has hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation parallel or oblique to direct sunlight. Sclerophyllous plants occur in many parts of the world, but are most typical in the chaparral biomes.
Q. What is the difference between wet and dry Sclerophyll forests?
Wet sclerophyll forests are dominated by trees of the Myrtaceae family, particularly of the genera Eucalyptus, Angophora, Corymbia, Syncarpia and Lophostemon. Dry sclerophyll forests are open forests that include a wide range of structural and floristic types.
Q. What is open forest?
Open Forest. All lands with tree canopy density of 10% and more but less than 40%. Scrub. Degraded forest lands with canopy density less than 10%. Non-forest.
