Abstract
Evergreen, sclerophyllous shrubs and trees are the dominant community elements in all of the five mediterranean-type ecosystems of the world. The remarkable convergence of leaf structure and morphology among unrelated taxa in these regions has led to a major interest in leaf sclerophylly as an adaptation in these ecosystems (Mooney and Dunn 1970). The major focus of this interest in mediterranean-type ecosystems has been on sclerophylly as a drought adaption (see Seddon 1974 for a historical discussion of concepts of sclerophylly and xeromorphy), but there has also been considerable attention given recently to the significance of evergreen leaves as a physiological strategy to increase nutrient-use efficiency, and to sclerophylly as an adaption to reduce herbivory.
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Rundel, P.W. (1988). Leaf structure and nutrition in mediterranean-climate sclerophylls. In: Specht, R.L. (eds) Mediterranean-type Ecosystems. Tasks for vegetation science, vol 19. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3099-5_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-009-3099-5_8
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