Stem Architectural Effect on Leaf Size, Leaf Number, and Leaf Mass Fraction in Plant Twigs of Woody Species

2009 ◽  
Vol 170 (8) ◽  
pp. 999-1008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuang Xiang ◽  
Yalan Liu ◽  
Fei Fang ◽  
Ning Wu ◽  
Shucun Sun

Botany ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 90 (11) ◽  
pp. 1152-1160 ◽  
Author(s):  
Waka Saito ◽  
Koji Kawamura ◽  
Hiroshi Takeda

We investigated the effects of overstory canopy openness and seedling density on seedling morphology and growth in the mid-successional species Acer nipponicum Hara in a cool-temperate forest. Studied seedlings were 46 seedlings of 30–160 cm height, and their overstory canopy openness ranged between 7.2% and 17.0%. Seedling density, measured as the number of conspecific neighboring seedlings within a 50 cm radius of the target seedling, ranged between 0 and 19. There were no significant correlations between seedling height, canopy openness, and seedling density. Multiple regression analysis showed that crown depth, leaf mass fraction, and leaf area index decreased with decreasing canopy openness and increasing seedling density, while the ratio of trunk-lateral branches mass increased. Overstory canopy openness did not affect crown area, leaf size, or petiole length, all of which decreased with increasing seedling density. Standardized regression coefficients indicated that seedling density affected morphology and growth more than canopy openness did. The morphological responses to canopy openness cannot be considered as adaptive plasticity, as total leaf area and leaf mass fraction decreased with decreasing light levels. In contrast, responses to seedling density indicate adaptive responses to neighborhood competition. The results highlight the importance of seedling density that influenced seedling growth and morphology independently of overstory canopy openness.



2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-629 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dongmei Yang ◽  
Guoyong Li ◽  
Shucun Sun
Keyword(s):  


AoB Plants ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Sun ◽  
Mantang Wang ◽  
Min Lyu ◽  
Karl J Niklas ◽  
Quanlin Zhong ◽  
...  

Abstract The trade-off between leaf number and individual leaf size on current-year shoots (twigs) is crucial to light interception and thus net carbon gain. However, a theoretical basis for understanding this trade-off remains elusive. Here, we argue that this trade-off emerges directly from the relationship between annual growth in leaf and stem mass, a hypothesis that predicts that maximum individual leaf size (i.e. leaf mass, Mmax, or leaf area, Amax) will scale negatively and isometrically with leafing intensity (i.e. leaf number per unit stem mass, per unit stem volume or per stem cross-sectional area). We tested this hypothesis by analysing the twigs of 64 species inhabiting three different forest communities along an elevation gradient using standardized major axis (SMA) analyses. Across species, maximum individual leaf size (Mmax, Amax) scaled isometrically with respect to leafing intensity; the scaling constants between maximum leaf size and leafing intensity (based on stem cross-sectional area) differed significantly among the three forests. Therefore, our hypothesis successfully predicts a scaling relationship between maximum individual leaf size and leafing intensity, and provides a general explanation for the leaf size-number trade-off as a consequence of mechanical-hydraulic constraints on stem and leaf growth per year.



Phytotaxa ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 334 (1) ◽  
pp. 41 ◽  
Author(s):  
DANIEL B. MONTESINOS-TUBÉE ◽  
ASUNCIÓN CANO ◽  
LUIS F. GARCÍA-LLATAS ◽  
YINGZI JU ◽  
ANNELEEN KOOL

As part of botanical expeditions in the Amazonas region of North Peru, we found plants from the Central Andes (North Peru). Based on morphology and molecular data, the Peruvian population was described and illustrated here as a new species for Science, named Paronychia sanchez-vegae. The new species is compared with its most likely closest relative, P. andina from which differs by the larger size, its woody ramified stems, the glabrous leaf surface, shorter leaf size, shorter flowers and larger size of the ovary.



1997 ◽  
Vol 48 (1) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. K. Singh ◽  
P. W. G. Sale

A glasshouse experiment was carried out to determine how an increasing P supply influences the growth and survival of white clover plants subjected to a range of defoliation frequencies. Treatments involved the factorial combination of P application rate (0, 30, 90, and 180 mg/pot) to a P-deficient Krasnozem soil and defoliation frequency (1, 2, or 4 defoliations over 36 days). The survival of P-deficient plants was threatened by the most frequent defoliation; their leaf area declined owing to a reduction in leaf number and individual leaf size with each successive defoliation. Increasing the P supply to 180 mg/pot reversed this downward trend as the high P plants were able to maintain leaf area by increasing leaf size and number. Increasing the frequency from 1 to 4 defoliations over the 36 days also changed the form of the leaf dry matter response to added P, from an asymptotic to a linear response. The P requirement of white clover for maximum leaf yield therefore increased under frequent defoliation. This effect was also apparent for a range of morphological measurements including stolon elongation rate, leaf area, root mass, leaf number, and stolon number, where the magnitude of the P response was consistently greater for frequently defoliated plants. Exceptions included stolon mass, which responded more to P addition under infrequent defoliation.



1991 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 226-228 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Turkington ◽  
Elena Klein

Cuttings of Trifolium repens were grown in pots without neighbours. When individual interconnected stolons from these cuttings were directed into adjacent pots so that daughter ramets were growing with different grass neighbours, these neighbouring grasses had dissimilar effects on leaf number, leaf size, percent branching of nodes, stolon length, and shoot dry weight. When the T. repens cuttings were grown in pots with neighbours, the effects of different grass neighbours on subsequent growth of stolons and ramets evened out. Key words: integration, clone, ramet, neighbour effects, Trifolium repens.



2008 ◽  
Vol 24 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-432 ◽  
Author(s):  
Koichi Takahashi ◽  
Yumi Mikami

AbstractThere are two trade-offs at the levels of leaves and crowns, i.e. assimilation capacity per leaf mass is greater for shorter-lived leaves, and unbranched species grow faster in height by allocating carbon more to trunk than to leaves and branches compared with highly branched species. The hypotheses were tested that the degree of branching (LTB) correlates with leaf traits and that height growth rate is negatively correlated with the degree of branching and leaf life span (LLS) by examining saplings of five canopy and subcanopy species, two shrub species and one invasive subshrub species (Clidemia hirta) in a tropical rain forest, West Java, Indonesia. Of the eight species, the most and least branched species wereCastanopsis acuminatissimaandMacaranga semiglobosa, respectively. Leaf traits examined were leaf size, LLS, leaf mass per area (LMA), leaf nitrogen concentration per mass (Nmass) and per area. LLS tended to be positively correlated with LMA, and negatively correlated withNmass. Leaf size was negatively correlated withLTB, but the other leaf traits were not correlated withLTB. The height growth of the eight species was low, irrespective ofLTBand LLS, for understorey individuals. The height growth of gap individuals was negatively correlated with LLS for the eight species, and also negatively withLTBfor the seven species other than one subshrub species. Thus, the degree of branching was correlated with leaf size only among the five leaf traits, and both leaf life span and the degree of branching affected the height growth of gap individuals, except for the subshrub species.



1996 ◽  
Vol 121 (1) ◽  
pp. 6-12
Author(s):  
R. Bruce Carle ◽  
J. Brent Loy

The morphology, growth rate and anatomy of the fused vein trait were characterized in Cucurbita pepo using the inbreds NH2405 (fused vein), NH7210 (moderately fused vein), and NH614 (normal). Morphological analysis showed that the trait is characterized by a partial fusion of the five primary leaf veins. Fusion begins at the distal point of the petiole and extends along the central vein. Branching of the veins is delayed and there is a reduction of the interveinal leaf blade. Consequently, the upper leaf surface appears puckered or wrinkled. Depending on genetic background, the onset of fused vein leaf production starts at the fourth to tenth leaf stage and continues throughout vegetative growth. The extent of fusion increases with leaf number but stabilizes by the twentieth leaf stage maximum extent of vein fusion also varies with genetic background (5-20 cm). Though fused vein and normal inbreds differed in the rate and pattern of leaf growth, examination of F2 and BC populations revealed no significant effect of the fused vein trait on leaf number, leaf size, and rate of leaf initiation. Anatomical examination revealed different vascular patterns in the transition zone between petiole and leaf blade for normal and fused vein leaves. In normal leaves, the vascular bundles of the petiole enlarge and coalesce to form a vascular crescent. The crescent reorganizes and diverges as large vascular columns and pairs of smaller flanking vascular bundles into each vein. In contrast, two cycles of enlargement, coalescence, and dispersal occur in fused vein leaves.



1990 ◽  
Vol 115 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zana C. Somda ◽  
Stanley J. Kays

Changes in leaf distribution of the sweet potato [Ipomoea batatas (L.) Lam.] cultivar Jewel were assessed bi-weekly for 18 weeks at three plant densities (15, 30, and 45 cm × 96-cm spacing). The distribution of leaves on the branches and the timing at which leaf number stabilized were affected by the plant density. Plant density resulted in significant differences in the number of leaves and percentage of missing leaves during the growing season. Leaf number and total leaf area varied substantially in response to plant density, but individual lamina and petiole lengths and leaf area did not vary. Average petiole and leaf lengths and leaf size increased during the season, with the maximum length and area dependent on the type of branch on which the leaf was formed. Average petiole length per branch and the susceptibility to leaf loss increased with descending branch hierarchy (secondary branch < primary branch < main stem). Leaf losses after the 4th week tended to parallel a progressive increase in petiole length of new leaves, suggesting shading as a primary cause of leaf shedding and the loss of the oldest leaves first.



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