Abstract:
Fragmentation of native vegetation by roads exposes species to the conditions of a different surrounding
ecosystem where the road verges onto the original habitat. An important issue for conservation
biology is how native species respond to these human-made ecosystems. In this study I compa
red reproductive characteristics, including seed output, seed mass, predispersal seed predation and
dispersal appendage mass, between road-verge populations of the woody perennial, Exocarpos
cupressiformis Labill., and nearby populations within undisturbed vegetation, in the Black Mountain
Reserve in Canberra (Australian Capital Territory). Road-verge populations produced significantly
more seeds per area of canopy cover and tended to have larger dispersal appendages than non-verge
populations in the reserve interior. There were no significant differences in seed mass or levels of
predispersal seed predation between road-verge and reserve-interior populations. However, seed
mass and predispersal seed predation varied significantly among populations within the two locations.
These findings demonstrate that populations of E. cupressiformis in disturbed habitats on road
verges had an increased capacity for colonisation and a higher potential rate of increase through
greater seed output and a tendency for larger investment in dispersal. (The Victorian Naturalist 120 (I),
2003. 10-14)
