Discussion: the leaf size is also affected by canopy cover (find a paper) leaf size also constrained by plant

species Limitations: It was not possible for the transect location to be randomised as there was no access to an accurate map of the ecological park including cliff and incline height which would have aided in finding possible transect locations The terrain constraints limited the areas that we could place the transects therefore the transects may not be completely representative of the patterns that occur in the system as a whole Future studies: analyse the effect of canopy cover as it alters the light availability and leaf temperature analyse the results/construct the experiment to include analysis of species separately to allow for better comparisons

Intro: Plants are sedentary organisms and therefore need to be able to alter their morphology to suit their environment (Poorter & Rozendaal, 2008). Leaves play an essential role in the growth and development of a plant as they are the main area for photosynthesis and control other important functions such as gas exchange and transpiration (Parkhurst & Loucks, 1972 and Geng et al., 2006). Heredity is the main factor deciding plant morphology, but abiotic pressures from the surrounding environment such as temperature, amount of sunlight and water and nutrient availability have been shown to impact on plant morphology (Parkhurst & Loucks, 1972, Cookson, et al., 2005 and Geng et al., 2006). Water availability is important to plants as it is an essential component of photosynthesis and assists with the structure of the plant as it maintains turgidity within its cells (Parkhurst & Loucks, 1972 and Zimmerman & Husken, 1979). Leaf size and overall morphology has been found to correlate with the amount of available resources, with plants developing different area, vein patterns, teeth and elongation to cope with environmental stresses (Xu, et al., 2009). In Australia, climate change is predicted to increase the occurrence of droughts and the information of leaf size in relation to water availability may help

identify plant species that may be more susceptible (Mushtaq, et al., 2013).In this study, we aim to investigate the correlation between distance from a water source and leaf area. We hypothesise that leaves closer to a water source (Macquarie Ecological Park creek) will have a greater area than leaves farther from it. This study aims to assist with plant models in relation to water availability which is becoming an increasingly important field due to climate change concerns. Materials and Methods: The study site used in this study was the Macquarie University Ecological Park in NSW, Australia. This site was chosen due to the abundance of plant life and the presence of a creek running along the length of the park. A 50 metre wind up tape measure was used to plot three transects with a minimum of 15 metres in between each to prevent pseudo-replication. Then three sites along each transect were chosen, with 10 metre intervals between them; beginning from the creek. The three transects were named T1, T2 and T3 and the sites within each were labelled A, B and C respectively. At each site, a radius of 1 metre and a height of 1.5 metres was marked using chalk and four leaves from each tree within this radius, at this height were taken and placed into a clear plastic bag labelled with the transect and site number. These leaves were then traced onto 1mm graph paper, clearly labelled with the transect and site number and the area calculated by counting the number of squares within the traced leaves. The average leaf area for each site was calculated and noted and these averages were used in the statistical analyses conducted using Minitab. Statistical analyses: The program, Minitab was used to complete all the statistical analyses of the study. The boxcox transformation was used to transform the raw data collected as it was inconsistent with the assumptions of an ANOVA. This transformed data was then used in a one way ANOVA with an 0.05 significance level to analyse the variance in leaf area in respect to distance from the water source. A Tukey post-hoc test was used to analyse the differences between each data set in order to determine the specific interval where the average leaf size plants differed from the average leaf size of plants from the other intervals.

discussion notes: the increasing trend of leaf area from dry to wet may also be the result of a reduction in sunlight as leaf size changes in sun or shade to maximise the efficiency of water use (Parkhurst & Loucks, 1972 and Poorter & Rozendaal, 2008) the climate that these plants reside in also has an effect on their morphology and their interand intra-specific interactions - if they live in rainforests or deserts, they have different shapes and sizes to exploit the available resources with the least cost to them (Poorter & Rozendaal, 2008) With this information in mind, we hypothesised that

Materials and Methods. The ecology field reserve located at Macquarie UniversityNSW, Australia was chosen for the sample site due to its diversity of vegetation, its proximity to the university and for the creek that runs through the middle of the reserve. At the site, three transects were established at the perimeter of the creek and were spaced apart at least 15 metres from each other in order to maintain an independence of sampling and to avoid pseudo replication. For each of the three transects,intervals were established every 10 metres starting from eachtransects point of origin (the perimeter of the creek). Eachtransect had a maximum of three intervals established. To determine if leaf area size differed in areas distanced further from the creek, 4 leaves were taken from every plant at each interval (in each transect) at a height of 1.5 metres in the vicinity of a 1 metre radius. The collected leaves were stored in a plastic bag and marked accordingly to be measured. The sample leaves were traced onto graph papers measuring 17x25 cm squared and measurements were conducted which recorded the number of 1mm square spaces which the area of the sample leaves occupied. Minitab was the statistical package used in this experiment to correlate and analyse data.

Results The average area size (cm2) of leaves in plants found further from the creek were shown to be, on average, smaller in sizethan leaves from plants situated closer to the creek (fig.1). A one way ANOVA analysis on the transformed data showed that there was a significant difference (F=20.31, P=0.00) in the average leaf size between at least one of the groups of

leaves collected at a specific interval, either the group ofleaves collected at the origin of the creek (group A), 10 metresfrom the creek (group B), or 20 metres from the creek (group C) (fig2). A Tukey post- hoc test on the transformed dataconfirmed that there was indeed a significant difference in average leaf area size between group A and group C, and between group A and group B. However, the test showed that there was not a significant difference between the average leaf size of plants in group B compared to group C. Discussion Our report showed that leaf size in plants showed a significant decrease in size when faced with restricted water availability in the environment. We found that there was a significant difference between the sizes of leaves from plants situated next to the creek and the sizes of leaves from plants located 20 metres from the creek. We also discovered that there is a significant difference between the sizes of leaves from plants located 10 metres away from the creek and the sizes of leaves from plants situated 20 metres away from the creek. These results indicate that as the proximity of plants to a water source decreases, so does the leaf sizes of those plants. These findings are congruent with a number of studies which found that leaf sizes of many plants were significantly reduced in stressful environments that lack sufficient nutrients needed for the development of the plant body. One study in particular found that leaves of plants located in dry and drought like environments had significantly reducedbiomasses and leaf areas compared to leaves of plants situated in cooler environments with increased water availability. The variations in leaf size between plants found in environments with high resource availably and plants located in environments with low resource availability can be attributed to adaptations that enable the plants to better survive and thrive in the environment they reside in. Plants that are located in harsher environments with limited water and nutrients are found to have smaller leaves because they are structurally and physiologically better suited to survive in drier soils than larger leaves. Likewise plants, with small leaves can also limit water loss in hot and dry environments, thus helping them survive in harsher conditions with limited water availability. The relationship between leaf size and water availability are found to be generally consistent amongst all species of plantsbut there may be additional factors that influence the size and morphology of the surface area of leaves other than resource availability. However, due to the limitations of this study, wecould not adequately investigate any additional factors that may influence the size and morphology of leaves. Therefore, this report recommends further examination into leaf size of plants and their applications for survival in differing environments.

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2005.01368.x/full http://aob.oxfordjournals.org/content/78/1/61.full.pdf http://treephys.oxfordjournals.org/content/21/9/599.full.pdf http://cid-inc.com/docs/CI203%20Leaf%20morphology%20correlates%20with%20water%20and%20light%20availabil ity%20-%20What%20consequences%20for%20simple%20and%20compound%20leaves.pdf

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