Functional traits of common New Zealand foredune species at New Brighton, Canterbury

Figures & data

Table 1 Mean (and standard error of the mean) for specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf area and plant height for each of five sand dune species.

Species	SLA (mm^2 mg^−1)		LDMC (mg g^−1)		Leaf area (mm^2)		Plant height (m)
Poa billardierei	5.0 (0.4)	a	457.0 (9.1)	a	339.0 (175.5)	a	0.52 (0.07)	a
Ficinia spiralis	4.2 (0.5)	a	361.5 (10.6)	b	1800.2 (202.7)	b	0.61 (0.08)	a
Spinifex sericeus	6.8 (0.5)	b	354.3 (10.6)	b	1612.2 (202.7)	bd	0.54 (0.08)	a
Ammophila arenaria	5.3 (0.6)	a	423.1 (12.9)	c	2633.7 (248.2)	c	1.11 (0.1)	b
Carpobrotus spp.	6.6 (0.6)	b	93.8 (12.9)	d	1127.0 (248.2)	d	0.26 (0.1)	c

The same lowercase letter within a column indicates species that did not differ significantly for that trait (Tukey's HSD test, P > 0.05).

Figure 1 Principal components scores for each individual plant (sample) for the first two axes of a PCA on traits and samples for all sand-dune taxa. Lines represent trait vectors: specific leaf area (SLA), leaf dry matter content (LDMC), leaf area and plant height. Native species: Spinifex sericeus (▵), Ficinia spiralis (□) and Poa billardierei (○). Exotic species: Ammophila arenaria (•) and Carpobrotus spp. (▪).

Table 2 Results of the multiple regression, showing the relationships (regression coefficient values and significance) between traits and environmental parameters within exotic species.

		SLA	LDMC	Leaf area	Plant height
Ammophila arenaria	Distance to HTM (m)	NS	NS	638.9***	0.2*
	Elevation (m)	NS	14.8**	NS	NS
	Cover other species (%)	NS	NS	NS	−0.004*
	Dist*elev	NS	NS	NS	NS
Carpobrotus spp.	Distance to HTM (m)	NS	NS	155.5*	NS
	Elevation (m)	NS	NS	NS	NS
	Cover other species (%)	NS	NS	NS	0.002*
	Dist*elev	NS	NS	NS	NS

HTM, hide tide mark; LDMC, leaf dry matter content; SLA, specific leaf area. *P < 0.05; **P < 0.01; ***P < 0.001; NS, not significant (P > 0.05).