Daniel Falster's Publications List

Lifetime return on investment increases with leaf lifespan among 10 Australian woodland species

2012-05-02T06:37:25Z

• Co-occurring species often differ in their leaf lifespan (LL) and it remains unclear how such variation is maintained in a competitive context. Here we test the hypothesis that leaves of long-LL species yield a greater return in carbon (C) fixed per unit C or nutrient invested by the plant than those of short-LL species. • For 10 sympatric woodland species, we assessed three-dimensional sho...

D S Falster, P B Reich, D S Ellsworth, I J Wright, M Westoby, J Oleksyn, T D Lee (2012) New Phytologist http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03940.x 193: 409–419

smatr 3: an R package for estimation and inference about allometric lines

2012-05-02T06:39:21Z

1. The Standardised Major Axis Tests and Routines (SMATR) software provides tools for estimation and inference about allometric lines, currently widely used in ecology and evolution. 2. This paper describes some significant improvements to the functionality of the package, now available on R in smatr version 3. 3. New inclusions in the package include sma and ma functions that accept f...

DI Warton, RA Duursma, DS Falster, S Taskinen (2012) Methods in Ecology and Evolution http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.2041-210X.2011.00153.x/abstract 3: 257-259

CRU Climate Data Extraction Tool.

2012-05-02T06:56:15Z

Tool for extracting climate data (precipitation, wet-day frequency, temperature, diurnal temperature range, relative humidity, vapor pressure, sunshine duration, ground frost frequency and windspeed) from a global set of high-resolution climate grids, based on weather stations records taken between 1961-1990. This tool allows you to extract data for a list of site localities, specified by latitude...

DS Falster, IJ Wright, and PrometheusWiki contributors. (2012)

An evolutionary attractor model for sapwood cross section in relation to leaf area

2012-05-02T06:43:21Z

Sapwood cross-sectional area per unit leaf area (SA:LA) is an influential trait that plants coordinate with physical environment and with other traits. We develop theory for SA:LA and also for root surface area per leaf area (RA:LA) on the premise that plants maximizing the surplus of revenue over costs should have competitive advantage. SA:LA is predicted to increase in water-relations environmen...

M Westoby, W K Cornwell, D S Falster (2012) Journal of Theoretical Biology http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022519312001257 303: 98-109

Light interception efficiency explained by two simple variables : a test using a diversity of small- to medium-sized woody plants

2012-05-02T06:37:07Z

* Plant light interception efficiency is a crucial determinant of carbon uptake by individual plants and by vegetation. Our aim was to identify whole-plant variables that summarize complex crown architecture, which can be used to predict light interception efficiency. *We gathered the largest database of digitized plants to date (1831 plants of 124 species), and estimated a measure of light interc...

R A Duursma, D S Falster, F Valladares, F J Sterck, R W Pearcy, C H Lusk, K M Sendall, M Nordenstahl, N C Houter, B J Atwell, N Kelly, J W G Kelly, M Liberloo, D T Tissue, B E Medlyn, D S Ellsworth (2012) New Phytologist http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-8137.2011.03943.x/abstract 193: 397–408

Influence of four major plant traits on average height, leaf-area cover, net primary productivity, and biomass density in single-species forests : a theoretical investigation

2011-11-10T03:04:02Z

1. Numerous plant traits are known to influence aspects of individual performance, including rates of carbon uptake, tissue turnover, mortality and fecundity. These traits are bound to influence emergent properties of vegetation because quantities such as leaf-area cover, average height, primary productivity and density of standing biomass result from the collective behaviour of individuals. Yet, ...

D S Falster, Å Brännström, U Dieckmann, M Westoby (2011) Journal of Ecology http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2745.2010.01735.x 99: 1 148-164

Studying plant architecture with Y-plant and 3D digitising

2012-05-02T06:56:52Z

This protocol outlines techniques for mapping the 3D architecture of plants, and for simulating light capture and carbon gain of the digitised specimens using the Yplant software.

RW Pearcy, RA Duursma, DS Falster, and PrometheusWiki contributors (2011) PrometheusWiki http://prometheuswiki.publish.csiro.au/tiki-index.php?page=Studying+plant+architecture+with+Y-plant+and+3D+digitising :

Plant functional traits - linkages among stem anatomy, plant performance and life history

2011-10-26T03:48:03Z

A E Zanne, D S Falster (2010) New Phytologist 185: 2 348-351

Angiosperm wood structure : global patterns in vessel anatomy and their relation to wood density and potential conductivity

2011-10-26T03:47:43Z

Woody stems comprise a large biological carbon fraction and determine water transport between roots and leaves; their structure and function can influence both carbon and hydrological cycles. While angiosperm wood anatomy and density determine hydraulic conductivity and mechanical strength, little is known about interrelations across many species. We compiled a global data set comprising two anato...

A E Zanne, M Westoby, D S Falster, D D Ackerly, S R Loarie, S E J Arnold, D A Coomes (2010) American Journal Of Botany 97: 2 207-215

Unstable DNA Repair Genes Shaped by Their Own Sequence Modifying Phenotypes

2011-10-26T03:52:45Z

The question of whether natural selection favors genetic stability or genetic variability is a fundamental problem in evolutionary biology. Bioinformatic analyses demonstrate that selection favors genetic stability by avoiding unstable nucleotide sequences in protein encoding DNA. Yet, such unstable sequences are maintained in several DNA repair genes, thereby promoting breakdown of repair and des...

D S Falster, S Nakken, M Bergem-Ohr, E A Rodland, J Breivik (2010) Journal Of Molecular Evolution 70: 3 266-274

Towards a general theory of plant trait diversity

2011-10-26T03:43:06Z

The coexistence of species exhibiting a range of ecologically significant traits is a defining feature of plant communities worldwide. In this thesis, I develop theory that seeks to both explain the origins of this diversity and predict the mixture of strategies favoured under different sorts of environmental conditions. Since all plants require the same basic resources of light, water, and nutrie...

D S Falster, (2010) :

Evolutionary coordination between offspring size at independence and adult size

2011-10-26T03:52:05Z

1. Rees & Venable (2007; Journal of Ecology, 95, 926-936) correctly identified scaling relations across species between offspring size at independence and adult size as patterns needing theoretical explanation. They also correctly identified that Charnov's (1993; Life History Invariants, Oxford University Press) model did not provide an adequate explanation. 2. Rees and Venable attacked several ...

M Westoby, A T Moles, D S Falster (2009) Journal of Ecology 97: 1 23-26

Small families and big babies

2011-10-26T03:41:27Z

D S Falster (2009) Australasian Science http://www.falsters.net/daniel/reprints/2009_Falster_AusSci.pdf : May issue

Controls on declining carbon balance with leaf age among 10 woody species in Australian woodland : do leaves have zero daily net carbon balances when they die?

2011-11-10T02:57:41Z

Here, we evaluated how increased shading and declining net photosynthetic capacity regulate the decline in net carbon balance with increasing leaf age for 10 Australian woodland species. We also asked whether leaves at the age of their mean life-span have carbon balances that are positive, zero or negative. The net carbon balances of 2307 leaves on 53 branches of the 10 species were estimated. We ...

P B Reich, D S Falster, D S Ellsworth, I J Wright, M Westoby, J Oleksyn, T D Lee (2009) New Phytologist 183: 1 153-166

A general model for the scaling of offspring size and adult size

2011-11-10T03:04:30Z

Understanding evolutionary coordination among different life-history traits is a key challenge for ecology and evolution. Here we develop a general quantitative model predicting how offspring size should scale with adult size by combining a simple model for life-history evolution with a frequency-dependent survivorship model. The key innovation is that larger offspring are afforded three different...

D S Falster, A T Moles, M Westoby (2008) The American Naturalist 172: 3 299-317

Ontogenetic variation in light requirements of juvenile rainforest evergreens

2011-11-10T02:58:02Z

1. Although shade tolerance is often assumed to be a fixed trait of species, recent work has reported size-related changes in the relative and absolute light requirements of woody taxa. We hypothesized that, in evergreen forests, light requirements of shade-tolerant species that accumulate multiple foliage cohorts will be more stable during juvenile ontogeny than those of intolerant species with s...

C H Lusk, D S Falster, C K Jara-Vergara, M Jimenez-Castillo, A Saldana-Mendoza (2008) Functional Ecology 22: 3 454-459

Sapling strength and safety : the importance of wood density in tropical forests

2011-10-26T03:55:10Z

D S Falster (2006) New Phytologist 171: 2 237-239

Cross-species patterns in the coordination between leaf and stem traits, and their implications for plant hydraulics

2011-10-26T03:53:07Z

Through identifying and understanding ecologically important dimensions of plant trait variation we gain insight into why particular trait combinations are favoured and into the implications of trait differences among species. Here, we describe relationships among several poorly understood leaf and stem traits across species from several Australian vegetation types. Species with lower wood density...

I J Wright, D S Falster, M Pickup, M Westoby (2006) Physiologia Plantarum 127: 3 445-456

Ontogenetic variation in light interception, self-shading and biomass distribution of seedlings of the conifer Araucaria araucana (Molina) K. Koch

2011-11-10T02:58:19Z

One of the factors thought to contribute to ontogenetic declines in plant growth rates is diminishing light interception efficiency, as a result of the difficulties of avoiding self-shading among a growing number of leaves, and by stems. The effects of plant size on self-shading and light interception have rarely been quantified, however. We used a three-dimensional digitising system to construct ...

C H Lusk, D S Falster, M Perez-Millaqueo, A Saldana (2006) Revista Chilena De Historia Natural 79: 3 321-328

Bivariate line-fitting methods for allometry

2011-10-26T03:56:06Z

Fitting a line to a bivariate dataset can be a deceptively complex problem, and there has been much debate on this issue in the literature. In this review, we describe for the practitioner the essential features of fine-fitting methods for estimating the relationship between two variables: what methods are commonly used, which method should be used when, and how to make inferences from these lines...

D I Warton, I J Wright, D S Falster, M Westoby (2006) Biological Reviews 81: 2 259-291

Assessing the generality of global leaf trait relationships

2011-10-26T03:57:14Z

Global-scale quantification of relationships between plant traits gives insight into the evolution of the world's vegetation, and is crucial for parameterizing vegetation-climate models. A database was compiled, comprising data for hundreds to thousands of species for the core 'leaf economics' traits leaf lifespan, leaf mass per area, photosynthetic capacity, dark respiration, and leaf nitrogen an...

I J Wright, P B Reich, J H C Cornelissen, D S Falster, E Garnier, K Hikosaka, B B Lamont, W Lee, J Oleksyn, N Osada, H Poorter, R Villar, D I Warton, M Westoby (2005) New Phytologist 166: 2 485-496

Alternative height strategies among 45 dicot rain forest species from tropical Queensland, Australia

2011-10-26T03:56:58Z

1 Potential height, which spans at least an order of magnitude across species, is considered an important indicator of light capture strategy. Still, it remains unclear how potential height is coordinated with other traits that influence height growth rate, stem persistence and performance in low light. We proposed that contrasting correlations between potential height and other plant attributes w...

D S Falster, M Westoby (2005) Journal of Ecology 93: 3 521-535

Modulation of leaf economic traits and trait relationships by climate

2011-10-26T03:56:26Z

Aim Our aim was to quantify climatic influences on key leaf traits and relationships at the global scale. This knowledge provides insight into how plants have adapted to different environmental pressures, and will lead to better calibration of future vegetation-climate models. Location The data set represents vegetation from 175 sites around the world. Methods For more than 2500 vascular plant spe...

I J Wright, P B Reich, J H C Cornelissen, D S Falster, P K Groom, K Hikosaka, W Lee, C H Lusk, U Niinemets, J Oleksyn, N Osada, H Poorter, D I Warton, M Westoby (2005) Global Ecology and Biogeography 14: 5 411-421

Tradeoffs between height growth rate, stem persistence and maximum height among plant species in a post-fire succession

2011-11-10T02:59:16Z

One way species of low maximum height can accrue sufficient light income to persist in vegetation is via rapid height growth immediately following disturbance. By surveying patches of known time since fire, we reconstructed height-growth trajectories for 19 post-fire recruiting species from fire-prone vegetation in south-eastern Australia. Cross-species patterns of height growth were compared to s...

D S Falster, M Westoby (2005) Oikos 111: 1 57-66

Small-seeded species produce more seeds per square metre of canopy per year, but not per individual per lifetime

2011-10-26T03:57:34Z

1. The trade-off between seed mass and the number of seeds a plant can make for a given amount of energy underpins our understanding of seed ecology. However, there is little information on the magnitude of the fecundity advantage of small-seeded species over an entire plant lifetime. 2. We compiled data from the literature to quantify the relationships between: (i) seed mass and plant size (becau...

A T Moles, D S Falster, M R Leishman, M Westoby (2004) Journal of Ecology 92: 3 384-396

Plant height strategies

2011-10-26T03:43:31Z

Potential height spans at least an order of magnitude across species and is considered an important indicator of light capture strategy. It is currently unclear, though, whether potential height is consistently coordinated with other aspects of light capture strategy such as pace of height growth, stem persistence and performance in low light. Theory and data suggest that available opportunities f...

D S Falster, (2003) :

Plant height and evolutionary games

2011-10-26T03:57:50Z

In plants, investment in height improves access to light, but incurs costs in construction and maintenance of the stem. Because the benefits of plant height depend on which other height strategies are present, competition for light can usefully be framed as a game-theoretic problem. The vertical structure of the world's vegetation, which is inefficient for plant growth, can then be understood as t...

D S Falster, M Westoby (2003) Trends In Ecology & Evolution 18: 7 337-343

Leaf size and angle vary widely across species : what consequences for light interception?

2011-11-10T02:58:44Z

Architecture can vary widely across species. Both steeper leaf angles and increased self-shading are thought to reduce potential carbon gain by decreasing total light interception. An alternative hypothesis is that steeper leaf angles have evolved to improve day-long carbon gain by emphasising light interception from low angles. Here we relate variation in architectural properties (leaf angle and ...

D S Falster, M Westoby (2003) New Phytologist 158: 3 509-525

SMATR : Standardised major axis tests and routines

2011-10-26T03:36:16Z

A stand-alone program program for estimation and inference about allometric lines, currently widely used in ecology and evolution.

D S Falster, D I Warton, I J Wright (2003) http://www.bio.mq.edu.au/ecology/SMATR :

Plant ecological strategies : Some leading dimensions of variation between species

2011-10-26T03:58:30Z

An important aim of plant ecology is to identify leading dimensions of ecological variation among species and to understand the basis for them. Dimensions that can readily be measured would be especially useful, because they might offer a path towards improved worldwide synthesis across the thousands of field experiments and ecophysiological studies that use just a few species each. Four dimension...

M Westoby, D S Falster, A T Moles, P A Vesk, I J Wright (2002) Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics 33: 125-159

Linking abundance, occupancy and spatial structure : an empirical test of a neutral model in an open-forest woody plant community in eastern Australia

2011-10-26T03:59:16Z

Aims We implemented a neutral model of a positive relationship between abundance and distribution (occupancy) to examine how spatial structure influences abundance-occupancy relationships. The spatially explicit neutral model distributes individuals of species randomly and independently of one another in space to produce a positive abundance-occupancy relationship. Using empirical data, we tested ...

D S Falster, B R Murray, B J Lepschi (2001) Journal of Biogeography 28: 3 317-323