Patterns of leaf phenology in forest understory

Foliar phenologies of forest understory plants were categorized, and the distribution pattern of leaf habit was examined among different forest environments. Various patterns of foliar phenology were found, especially in herbaceous plants. In addition to the seasonal light regime controlled by the phenology of canopy trees, differences in the length of period with snow cover led to the divergence. Perennial-leaved plants predominate in intensely shaded habitats while annual-leaved plants are more abundant in less shaded habitats. The shade tolerance of perenniel-leaved plants can be considered a preadaptation to snow tolerance. In contrast with the perennial-leaved plants, biennial-leaved plants with leaves overwintering 1 year appear to be favored in euphotic habitats with high insulation both in spring and in autumn. These species are effective competitors in spring because of rapid emergence of current leaves, probably through retranslocation of resources accumulated in the previous year. Another adaptive trait is found in heteroptic plants simultaneously having summer-green leaves and overwintering leaves; these types of leaves seem to function in predictable and quite different environments in a year. Key words: foliar phenology, growth form, light resource, overwintering leaf, snow cover.

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Functional relationships of leafing intensity to plant height, growth form and leaf habit

Acta Oecologica ◽

10.1016/j.actao.2012.04.001 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 41 ◽

pp. 20-29 ◽

Cited By ~ 11

Author(s):

En-Rong Yan ◽

Rubén Milla ◽

Lonnie W. Aarssen ◽

Xi-Hua Wang

Keyword(s):

Plant Height ◽

Growth Form ◽

Height Growth ◽

Functional Relationships ◽

Leaf Habit

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Living long by staying small: stem layering as an adaptive life-history trait in shade-tolerant tree seedlings

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x07-136 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 38 (3) ◽

pp. 480-487 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Kerry D. Woods

Keyword(s):

Population Dynamics ◽

Acer Saccharum ◽

Life Histories ◽

Adventitious Roots ◽

Shade Tolerance ◽

Stem Growth ◽

Life History Trait ◽

Tree Seedlings ◽

Canopy Trees ◽

Successional Forests

Suppressed seedling banks are important in replacement dynamics in late-successional forests. However, demographic properties of seedling populations are poorly known, and there has been little attention to traits that might affect fitness in suppressed seedlings. Acer saccharum Marsh., a shade-tolerant dominant in eastern North American forests, frequently develops adventitious roots along prostrate portions of stems (“layering”). Measurements of Acer seedlings in old-growth forests in Michigan indicate that layered seedlings proportionally reduce structural allocations to older layered stem tissues, retain leaf area / height ratios of younger unlayered seedlings, and tend to survive longer. In tree seedlings, allometric consequences of normal stem growth lead to declining ratios of photosynthetic to nonphotosynthetic biomass, which potentially reduces shade tolerance and limiting age. The layering habit may defer this penalty by changing the allometry of growth. Resulting increases in life expectancy should increase chance of access to increased light and of reaching the canopy. Thus, because flowering is generally restricted to canopy trees, the tendency to layer may increase fitness. Properties of individuals in suppressed seedling banks may be selectively and ecologically important, shaping life histories and population dynamics.

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Early understory succession following catastrophic wind damage in a deciduous forest

Canadian Journal of Forest Research ◽

10.1139/x99-171 ◽

1999 ◽

Vol 29 (12) ◽

pp. 1997-2002 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Jeff P Castelli ◽

Brenda B Casper ◽

Jon J Sullivan ◽

Roger Earl Latham

Keyword(s):

Soil Moisture ◽

Vegetation Cover ◽

Environmental Variables ◽

Growth Form ◽

Deciduous Forest ◽

Wind Damage ◽

Forest Understory ◽

Light Soil ◽

Major Nutrients ◽

Understory Vegetation Cover

Early succession was followed in a 2.5-ha gap created by a severe wind storm in a 5.5-ha fragment of eastern North American deciduous forest. Understory vegetation cover by species, light, soil moisture, and levels of several major nutrients were measured in 1 × 2 m census plots 3 years prior to the disturbance. Coincidentally, the storm felled 50-55% of the trees over a portion of these plots. Vegetation cover by species was again measured in all plots 3 years following the disturbance. Species were grouped by growth form, and group cover values used to examine changes in the composition of the vegetation and to determine whether these changes were correlated with any measured predisturbance environmental variables. Given the size of the gap, shade-intolerant tree species were expected to increase but did not, most likely because of repression by the shrub layer. The main response to the disturbance appeared to occur through reorganization of existing vegetation. The value of predisturbance species cover data and limitations of our sample sizes are discussed.

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Leaf structural characteristics of 31 hardwood and conifer tree species in central Wisconsin: Influence of light regime and shade-tolerance rank

Forest Ecology and Management ◽

10.1016/0378-1127(90)90072-j ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 31 (4) ◽

pp. 245-253 ◽

Cited By ~ 138

Author(s):

Marc D. Abrams ◽

Mark E. Kubiske

Keyword(s):

Tree Species ◽

Shade Tolerance ◽

Structural Characteristics ◽

Light Regime ◽

Conifer Tree

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Global meta-analysis shows that relationships of leaf mass per area with species shade tolerance depend on leaf habit and ontogeny

New Phytologist ◽

10.1111/j.1469-8137.2007.02264.x ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 176 (4) ◽

pp. 764-774 ◽

Cited By ~ 72

Author(s):

Christopher H. Lusk ◽

David I. Warton

Keyword(s):

Shade Tolerance ◽

Meta Analysis ◽

Leaf Mass Per Area ◽

Leaf Mass ◽

Leaf Habit

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A global analysis of elevational gradients in leaf herbivory and its underlying drivers: Effects of plant growth form, leaf habit and climatic correlates

Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1111/1365-2745.12866 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 106 (1) ◽

pp. 413-421 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

Andrea Galmán ◽

Luis Abdala-Roberts ◽

Shuang Zhang ◽

Jorge C. Berny-Mier y Teran ◽

Sergio Rasmann ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Plant Growth ◽

Growth Form ◽

Global Analysis ◽

Elevational Gradients ◽

Leaf Habit ◽

Plant Growth Form ◽

Leaf Herbivory

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Leaf habit, phenology, and longevity of 11 forest understory plant species in Algonquin State Forest, northwest Connecticut, USA

Botany ◽

10.1139/b08-018 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 86 (5) ◽

pp. 457-465 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Jack T. Tessier

Keyword(s):

New York ◽

Plant Species ◽

New York State ◽

Leaf Longevity ◽

Forest Understory ◽

Spring Ephemeral ◽

Leaf Habit ◽

Understory Plant ◽

Forest Plant Species ◽

The Impact

Many functional attributes of plant species are predicated on their leaf habit. To fully understand the way that plant species coexist and respond to future conditions, it is important to have a thorough understanding of the leaf habit, phenology, and longevity of common forest plant species. I quantified these traits in 11 forest understory species in the Algonquin State Forest of northwestern Connecticut, USA, by labeling and monitoring individual leaves of three replicates of each species over a period of 3 years. While clear patterns exist within the evergreen, wintergreen, seasonalgreen, deciduous, and spring-ephemeral groupings, significant differences exist within and among these groups, including differences in the timing of leafing and senescence, and minimum leaf longevity. Because the impact of local and global disturbance is often predicated on the phenological and life-history traits of species, these differences may be important to the responses that these species have to future disturbance. The size of leaf-supporting structures was positively correlated with leaf longevity across species, supporting a predictive connection between construction costs and leaf longevity. Additionally, the leaf habit of Oxalis acetosella L. at this study site is significantly different from that observed previously in the Catskill Mountains, New York State, USA. These differences may be due to local habitat conditions or genetic predisposition.

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Hydraulic prediction of drought‐induced plant dieback and top‐kill depends on leaf habit and growth form

Ecology Letters ◽

10.1111/ele.13856 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 24 (11) ◽

pp. 2350-2363

Author(s):

Ya‐Jun Chen ◽

Brendan Choat ◽

Frank Sterck ◽

Phisamai Maenpuen ◽

Masatoshi Katabuchi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Growth Form ◽

Leaf Habit

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Germination and dormancy of grassy woodland and forest species: effects of smoke, heat, darkness and cold

Australian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1071/bt99077 ◽

2000 ◽

Vol 48 (6) ◽

pp. 687 ◽

Cited By ~ 62

Author(s):

Peter J. Clarke ◽

Elizabeth A. Davison ◽

Lindsay Fulloon

Keyword(s):

Growth Form ◽

Woody Species ◽

Seed Banks ◽

Light Regime ◽

Herbaceous Species ◽

Growth Forms ◽

Heat Effects ◽

Single Temperature ◽

Selection Factors ◽

Expected Proportion

The germination requirements of a broad spectrum of common species found in grassy woodlands and forests in the New England region of northern New South Wales were tested in a series of replicated growth-cabinet experiments. The effects of dark/diurnal light and smoke/no smoke were measured on 65 species in an orthogonal experiment, 21 of which were retested after storage for 12 months. The effect of storage for several years was also assessed under a diurnal light regime. In addition, the effects of preimbibition heat (80˚C), and chilling on germination were also measured. A single temperature regime (15˚C night/25˚C day) was used in all treatments for comparative purposes. Most species had high viability and germinability under a diurnal light regime. Small shrub species included, however, a large proportion of species with entrenched dormancy. Light enhanced germination of 21 species significantly, whereas dark stimulated germination of only eight species. Heat and cold treatments also stimulated some germination but more often inhibited germination or produced no effect. Smoke stimulated germination, relative to other cues, in only one species (Ajuga australis) and more often inhibited germination or produced no effect. The relationship between variation in germination (stimulation, no effect or inhibition) of species in six growth-form classes was tested by using contingency tables for each treatment. No significant relationship between growth form and the effects of light, smoke or chilling was detected. Preimbibition heat effects were, however, significantly different among growth forms. Subshrubs showed a higher than expected proportion of species with a heat stimuli while herbaceous species showed a higher than expected proportion of species inhibited by preimbibition heat. Germinability generally increased in herbaceous species when stored at ambient temperatures while it remained relatively constant in woody species. Conversely, viability decreased in herbaceous species but remained relatively more constant in woody species. The effects of seed storage and high germinability suggest that most perennial herbaceous species have transient or short-term persistent seed banks. Germinability, with and without cues, was also negatively correlated with increasing seed size and larger growth forms. These traits might be related to the need for woody species, with soil-stored seed banks, to spread establishment risks in an environment where herbaceous competition and herbivory are likely to be important selection factors.

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