Leaf and wood plasticity of five restinga species in two areas of the South Brazil

This study examined comparatively the plasticity of five "lenhosas" species occurring in two areas of salt marsh in Santa Catarina State, as follow: Clusia criuva Cambess., Myrsine venosa A. DC., Ocotea pulchella (Nees e Mart.) Mez, Pera glabrata (Schott) Poepp. Ex Baill and Ternstroemia brasiliensis Cambess. Functional attributes of leaf and stem were measured, and in the field trees' height and diameter were taken at breast height. The environmental heterogeneity was characterized by chemical analysis of the soil, thickness of litter and gravimetric moisture. For each morphological and anatomical attribute the phenotypic plasticity index was calculated. Leaf traits showed variation among the areas in all studied species, especially regarding specifi c leaf area. Wood attributes changed little, showing a higher inheritability of characters or similar responses to the water condition from the point of view of water resources' use of. The results corroborate to other studies indicating that leaf is more plastic to habitats variations.