The fall of phyllodes from Acacia aneura F.Muell. ex Benth. (mulga) in central Australia was studied over 22 months from mid-1958 at four locations within a livestock reserve north of Alice Springs in the Northern Territory, in order to identify rainfall or seasonal triggers. Phyllode fall increased by at least an order of magnitude for short periods following rain of 15–20 mm or more on a ‘mature’ mulga site and similar trends were apparent for ‘young’ and ‘desert form’ mulga on the same site, and on a second, independent, ‘mature’ site. When rates of phyllode fall were high after substantial rain, at both ‘mature’ locations, ~30% of nitrogen and ~50% of phosphorus were withdrawn before abscission, suggesting that mulga was markedly conservative of these nutrients. Conversely, under dry conditions, when phyllode fall was relatively low (<200 mg m⁻² day⁻¹), concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus in fallen phyllodes were higher. Concentrations of potassium, calcium, magnesium and sodium did not vary consistently with increasing rate of phyllode fall, although overall levels of calcium and potassium were considerably higher in the second ‘mature’ location. This legacy study is of renewed interest given the potential of mulga communities to contribute to national carbon stocks, and the consequent need for robust field-based data on growth dynamics and carbon fluxes.

叶相思的叶状叶的秋天缪尔 前Benth。从1958年中期开始，在北领地爱丽丝泉以北的一个牲畜保护区内的四个地点对澳大利亚中部的（Mulga）进行了为期22个月的研究，以识别降雨或季节触发因素。在“成熟”的mul鱼场所降雨15-20 mm或更多之后，短短一段时间内，毛状体的下落至少增加了一个数量级，并且在同一地点的“幼”和“荒漠型”鱼的趋势也很相似，并且在第二个独立的“成熟”网站上。当大量降雨后叶状体下降的速率很高时，在“成熟”两个地点，脱落前约要抽出约30％的氮和约50％的磷，这表明鱼对这些养分有明显的保守性。相反，在干燥条件下，叶状体下降相对较低（<200 mg m ^-2 在第^-1天），倒下的叶状体中的氮和磷的浓度较高。钾，钙，镁和钠的浓度并没有随叶状体下降速率的增加而一致地变化，尽管第二个“成熟”位置的钙和钾的总体含量明显较高。鉴于族社区可能为国家碳储量做出贡献，并且因此需要有关生长动力学和碳通量的可靠的基于实地的数据，这项传统研究引起了新的兴趣。