Close relationship between leaf life span and seedling relative growth rate in temperate hardwood species

2010 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 173-180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenji Seiwa ◽  
Kihachiro Kikuzawa
1931 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-249
Author(s):  
F. W. WEYMOUTH ◽  
H. C. McMILLIN ◽  
WILLIS H. RICH

1. The present paper is a study of the growth of a clam (Siliqua patula) under natural conditions and over a wide range of latitude. 2. Various constants derived from the growth data are compared for the different localities. For this species, over the range considered, growth in the southern localities as compared with the northern is initially more rapid but less sustained, leads to a smaller total length and is associated with a shorter life span. 3. Reasons are presented for considering the relative growth-rate as a particularly significant constant leading to more sound biological conclusions than the use of the absolute growth-rate. 4. On the basis of the relative growth-rate, current mathematical expressions for the course of growth are discussed and a formula used which emphasises Minot's conception of a growth-rate constantly declining with age. This expression L = Be-ce-ce-kt, in which L = length at time t, e = base of natural logarithms, and B, c and k are constants, is found to graduate the extensive data in clam growth with significant accuracy.


1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 306-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
P.B. Reich ◽  
J. Oleksyn ◽  
M.G. Tjoelker

Seedlings of 24 European Scots pine (Pinussylvestris L.) populations were grown in controlled environment chambers under simulated photoperiodic conditions of 50 and 60°N latitude to evaluate the effect of seed mass on germination and seedling growth characteristics. Seeds of each population were classified into 1-mg mass classes, and the four classes per population with the highest frequencies were used. Photoperiod had minimal influence on seed mass effects. Overall, seed mass was positively related to the number of cotyledons and hypocotyl height. Populations differed significantly in seed mass effect on biomass. In northern populations (55–61°N), dry mass at the end of the first growing season was little affected by seed mass. However, dry mass in 9 of 15 central populations (54–48°N) and all southern (<45°N) populations correlated positively with seed mass. Relative growth rate was not related to seed mass within or across populations, and thus early growth is largely determined by seed mass. Relative growth rate also did not differ among populations, except for a geographically isolated Turkish population with the highest seed mass and lowest relative growth rate. After one growing season, height was positively correlated (r2 > 0.6) with seed mass in 15 populations. To check the duration of seed mass effects, height growth of 1- to 7-year-old field experiments established with the same seed lots were compared. Seed mass effects on height were strongest for 1-year-old seedlings and declined or disappeared by the age of 5–7 years among central and southern populations, but remained stable over that time in northern populations.


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