Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2010
Abstract
Wildfires in the Santa Monica mountains in Southern California burn down a decent percentage of the local vegetation. However, some plants like Heteromeles Arbutifolia, are considered to be resprouters because they return a mere two years after being burnt down. It is hypothesized that the artificially browsed resprout leaves will have a lower tensile strength than both the young and adult leaves because they use a lower amount of carbohydrates per unit-leaf-area. Data showed that although there was a slight different between the young leaves and the adult leaves of the Heteromeles, there was no statistically significant difference between the young leaves and the resprout artificially browsed leaves. This demonstrates the fact that the Young's Modulus of the tensile strength of the young leaves is approximately equal to that of the browsed leaves. The hypothesis that the browsed leaves will be weaker than the young and adult leaves can therefore be rejected.
Recommended Citation
Hair, Andrew; DiLascia, Madeline; Novella, Nick; and Wurdeman, Taylor, "Post-fire Alterations in Mechanical Strength of Leaves in Heteromeles Arbutifolia" (2010). Pepperdine University, Featured Research. Paper 17.
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/sturesearch/17