Leaf Serration in Seedlings of Heteroblastic Woody Species Enhance Plasticity and Performance in Gaps But Not in the Understory

Table 4

Summary of plasticity values {(maximum−minimum)/maximum} for foliar responses calculated from mean values for homoblastic and heteroblastic (hetero) species between gap and forest understory light environments. ∗Greater plasticity in heteroblastic species.

	H. lyallii	H. sexstylosa (hetero)	A. serrata	A. fruticosa (hetero)
Leaf morphology
Leaf lobing	0.38	0.51^∗	0.19	0.24^∗
Leaf size	0.58	1.17^∗	1.61	0.39
Total leaf area	1.54	13.06^∗	37.96^∗	2.32
Leaf physiology
Maximum photosynthetic rate	3.73	4.45^∗	4.1	6.42^∗
(unit leaf area)
Leaf anatomy
Leaf blade thickness	1.87	1.96^∗	1.64	2.31^∗
Palisade mesophyll thickness	2.94	3.20^∗	2.37	4.05^∗
Stomatal aperture area	2.39	2.53^∗	0.25	2.26^∗
Seedling Growth
Height increment	2.53	10.70^∗	7.84	2.08