3rd Annual Academic Symposium

Planchonella sandwicensis is a variable plant endemic to the Hawaiian Islands. Planchonella sandwicensis has been divided into many different species based on morphological variations, but now is recognized as one species. Some characters, like leaf size, used to previously subdivide the species may be variable across different ecosystems. No studies have been conducted to evaluate functional trait diversity in the species across its range. Standardized collections of the species were made from 39 trees across Kauai, Oahu, Molokai, Maui and Hawaii in summer 2012. Three fully expanded leaves were collected from one fully exposed branch from each tree. All leaves were scanned to measure leaf area. Two of the three leaves were dried for dry mass determination while additional leaves were preserved for stomatal measurements. Correlations between ecological parameters and functional traits were investigated. A positive correlation was shown between the amount of rainfall and specific leaf area (p = 0.02434) as well as stomatal density (p = 0.03302). The correlation suggests that the greater the amount of rainfall, the higher the specific leaf area and the greater the stomatal density. Our findings suggest that ecological parameters may explain morphological variation in the species. Future studies may find that additional functional traits may be correlated to environmental variables in P. sandwicensis.