scholarly journals Do white spruce epicuticular wax monoterpenes follow foliar patterns?

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 1051-1058 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Despland ◽  
Thomas Bourdier ◽  
Emilie Dion ◽  
Eric Bauce

We examine the extent to which foliar monoterpenes are trapped in the epicuticular waxes as part of an investigation into their role in natural defense against folivores. We monitored concentrations in white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) previous-year foliage and expanding foliage and their epicuticular waxes over the 2010 (14 trees) and 2011 (25 trees) growing seasons. In 2010, concentrations were low in the spring and increased over the summer; in 2011, they stayed low. The monoterpene profile of individual trees was similar between years and showed a consistent pattern over the growing season; in expanding foliage, δ-3-carene was only present in spring, whereas bornyl acetate increased over the growing season. Individual wax monoterpene profiles correlated with those of foliage, but the total concentration showed a different phenological pattern. Total content remained constant throughout the growing season on previous-year foliage but decreased on expanding foliage. Electron microscopy suggests this is due to changes in stomatal wax plugs and their role in blocking evaporation from the stomata. These findings suggest that insects contacting the leaf surface will receive accurate information from the wax chemical composition about the monoterpene mix but not about overall monoterpene levels.

1995 ◽  
Vol 71 (5) ◽  
pp. 633-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. F. Sutton ◽  
T. P. Weldon

Five-year results of a study to evaluate the relative effectiveness of nine silvicultural treatments for establishing plantations of white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) in boreal Ontario mixed-wood are presented. The experimental design provided three levels of mechanical site preparation (none, disk trenching, and toothed-blading) in all combinations with three kinds of chemical weed control (none, Velpar L© at the time of planting, and Vision© during the second growing season). A randomized block experiment using 0.8-ha plots and two replications was established in Oates Twp. in 1985 and repeated in adjacent Oswald Twp. in 1986. Bareroot white spruce was planted throughout. Four 25-tree sub-plots, located systematically from a random start, were established in each plot. White spruce performance was monitored for five years. Fifth-year survival rates averaged 34% and 84% without and with mechanical site preparation, respectively. Mean total heights after five growing seasons differed significantly (P < 0.01) by category of mechanical site preparation: teeth > trencher > none. Other criteria of performance showed the same pattern. Because of operational exigencies, the herbicide treatments were not applied as scheduled, which might account for the apparent ineffectiveness of those treatments in the particular circumstances of this study. Key words: Site preparation, disk trencher, Young's teeth, herbicides


1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (8) ◽  
pp. 1282-1289 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E Staples ◽  
Ken CJ Van Rees ◽  
Chris van Kessel

The ability of noncrop plants to compete with white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) seedlings for applied fertilizer N is not well understood. Therefore, the objective of this study was to examine the efficacy of fertilizer N uptake using 15N by planted white spruce seedlings and understory vegetation. Double 15N-labeled NH4NO3 was broadcast in 1-m2plots for control, disc-trenched, and disc-trenched + manual brushing treatments. The fate of applied 15N in white spruce and noncrop plants was determined at the end of the first two growing seasons. The major competitors for fertilizer 15N were Populus tremuloides Michx. and grasses during the first growing season, and Populus tremuloides, Epilobium angustifolium L., and Achillea millefolium L. during the second growing season. Disc-trenching plus manual brushing significantly increased the fertilizer use efficiency of white spruce seedlings by limiting competition; however, <1% of the applied fertilizer 15N was utilized by the spruce seedlings after two growing seasons. The ability of competing vegetation to absorb broadcast fertilizer N suggests that alternative fertilizer types and placements be investigated to increase N uptake by white spruce seedlings planted in the boreal mixedwood forest.


2003 ◽  
Vol 79 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-131
Author(s):  
R F Sutton ◽  
T P Weldon

An experiment to investigate techniques for establishing white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss) in boreal Ontario mixedwood was begun in 1985 in Oates Twp. Eight 25-tree plots were established in each of nine treatments: three mechanical site preparation treatments (none, disk- trenching, and toothed-blading) in combination with three kinds of chemical weed control (none, Velpar L® at the time of planting, and Vision® during the second growing season). The experiment was repeated the following year in the adjacent township of Oswald. The mechanical treatments were applied as planned, but the herbicide treatments deviated somewhat from the plan. Fifth-year results were reported in this journal in 1995. In the eighth growing season, a ground-spray release treatment with Vision® was applied to four randomly selected 25-tree plots in each original treatment. Performance of white spruce after 13 growing seasons was significantly influenced by site preparation: survival averaged 65 and 79% without release in the blading and trenching treatments, respectively, and 22% in the untreated control; with release, survival averaged 74 and 80% in the blading and trenching treatments, respectively, and 24% in the untreated control. Growth was greatest in the bladed treatment, poorest by far in the untreated control. The ineffectiveness of herbicides in these experiments is surprising in view of successes elsewhere. The modest response to release was significant for 13th -year increment. Key words: site preparation, toothed blading, trenching, release


1965 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 454-465 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Mullin

Several kinds of seedbed mulch were used in an experiment to study frost heaving of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) in a nursery. Treatments consisted of silica gravel (of three sizes), hardwood sawdust, vermiculite, shredded sphagnum, mixed silica and sphagnum, and rye straw (the regular nursery mulch). These were applied to beds sown in the fall of 1958, 1959 and I960. Shading of beds during the winter between the first and second growing seasons was also examined.During the first growing season, several counts were made of the number of trees and weeds. At the beginning of the second growing season a count was made of the trees heaved and the residual stand. At the beginning of the third growing season, samples were taken for laboratory measurements of top length, root length, stem diameter, oven-dry weight and top-root ratio.The sawdust mulch was superior in most respects. It permitted the highest germination and survival, better prevention of heaving than rye straw, and better weed control than rye straw. Although the sawdust mulch treatment produced small and poorly balanced trees this was believed due chiefly to high bed density, and compared favourably with the rye straw. The use of hardwood sawdust as a mulch offered considerable advantage over the presently used rye-straw.Heaving was found to be a minor cause of mortality over the three year period examined. Shading of the beds offered no advantage in reducing this loss.


2000 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 1669-1681 ◽  
Author(s):  
M J Krasowski ◽  
J N Owens

The relationship between certain morphological characteristics of white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) planting stock (STK) and post-planting seedling performance was evaluated. Root system size at planting, its expansion, and its capacity to conduct water during the first post-planting weeks were determined. These characteristics were related to the performance of STK planted on two forest sites and measured for three growing seasons and to the performance of seedlings grown in large wooden boxes buried in the soil outdoors for one growing season (grown without competition from other vegetation). The compared STK were (i) polystyroblock grown, (ii) polystyroblock grown with chemical root pruning, and (iii) peat-board grown with mechanical root pruning. After three growing seasons on forest sites, seedlings with mechanically pruned roots grew more above ground than did seedlings from polystyroblock containers. This difference in seedling growth performance was even more significant for seedlings grown in wooden boxes. Of these, the mechanically pruned seedlings grew more not only above the ground but they also produced larger root systems by the end of the first growing season. This was despite the initially significantly smaller root systems of mechanically pruned seedlings, compared with the other two STK. Early (5-7 weeks after planting) post-planting root expansion patterns in the three STK were significantly different, with the roots of mechanically pruned seedlings growing less than the roots in the other two STK. In spite of this, pressure-probe measured hydraulic conductivity and water flux through root systems increased during the first post-planting weeks in mechanically pruned seedlings while declining or changing little in the other two STK. It was concluded that root system size at planting and its early post-planting expansion did not relate well to the root system hydraulic properties or to the post-planting seedling growth performance.


2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (6) ◽  
pp. 1093-1097 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas E Staples ◽  
Ken CJ Van Rees ◽  
J Diane Knight ◽  
C van Kessel

Moisture availability is the factor that most commonly influences the discrimination against 13C fixation (Δ) by C3 plants. Therefore, by changing the availability of moisture by way of controlling competing vegetation, Δ in white spruce (Picea glauca (Moench) Voss) seedlings should be affected. The objective of this study was to determine the influence of manual brushing on Δ in white spruce seedlings planted in disc-trenched and control (i.e., no site preparation) microsites. The effects of site preparation and vegetation management on soil moisture, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), and Δ in white spruce seedlings were evaluated over three growing seasons. Vegetation management increased the amount of PAR reaching seedlings in the control and disc-trenched treatments by removing the shading by native vegetation around each seedling. It appears that the increase in PAR reaching seedlings decreased Δ by increasing the photosynthetic consumption of CO2. Differences in soil available moisture (up to 22%) between control and disc-trenched treatments were not reflected in Δ values, contrary to our initial hypothesis. This may indicate that the site was not moisture limiting. Also, these results underline the complexity and difficulty of determining the controlling mechanisms by which Δ is affected.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing-Lai Dang ◽  
Jacob Marfo ◽  
Fengguo Du ◽  
Rongzhou Man ◽  
Sahari Inoue

Abstract Aims Black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.) and white spruce (Picea glauca [Moench] Voss.) are congeneric species. Both are moderately shade tolerant and widely distributed across North American boreal forests. Methods To understand light effects on their ecophysiological responses to elevated [CO2], 1-year old seedlings were exposed to 360 and 720 µmol mol -1 [CO2] at three light conditions (100, 50 and 30% of full light in the greenhouse). Foliar gas exchanges were measured in the mid- and late-growing season. Important Findings Elevated [CO2] increased net photosynthesis (Pn) and photosynthetic water use efficiency, but it reduced stomatal conductance and transpiration. The stimulation of photosynthesis by CO2 was greatest at 50% light and smallest at 100%. Photosynthesis, maximum carboxylation rate (Vcmax) and light saturated rate of electron transport (Jmax) all decreased with decreasing light. Elevated [CO2] significantly reduced Vcmax across all light treatments and both species in mid-growing season. However, the effect of elevated [CO2] became insignificant at 30% light later in the growing season, with the response being greater in black spruce than in white spruce. Elevated [CO2] also reduced Jmax in white spruce in both measurements while the effect became insignificant at 30% light later in the growing season. However, the effect on black spruce varied with time. Elevated [CO2] reduced Jmax in black spruce in mid-growing season in all light treatments and the effect became insignificant at 30% light later in the growing season, while it increased Jmax later in the season at 100% and 50% light. These results suggest that both species benefited from elevated CO2, and that the responses varied with light supply, such that the response was primarily physiological at 100% and 50% light, while it was primarily morphological at 30% light.


2013 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eva Ürgeová ◽  
Katarína Vulganová ◽  
Ľudovít Polívka

AbstractWe focused on the determination of biologically active secondary metabolites in wild hops over the course of the vegetation period in four selected sites in Piešťany. Hop was collected in four collection periods in 2010. The objects of research were the leaves of male and female plants, and female cones. Analysis of the extracts from wild hop confirmed differences in total content of polyphenols, flavonoids between the localities and in the growing seasons over the vegetation period. The extracts from leaves from the first harvest in localities “gSládkovičova” and the river Vah showed higher levels of polyphenols (4.91–6.93 mg g−1 of dry mass), flavonoids (2.28–2.99 mg g−1 of dry mass) than the extracts from cones collected at the end of the vegetation period (polyphenols 3.63–5.33 mg g−1 of dry mass, flavonoids 1.86–2.16 mg g−1 of dry mass). The extracts from leaves from the first harvest from the “tennis court” site showed lower values of polyphenols and flavonoids. Our findings were that the leaves from the first harvest at the beginning of the growing season contained higher amounts of the secondary metabolites investigated than the cones at the end of the growing season. The content of α-bitter acids in wild hop cones ranged from 1.64 % to 2.91 %, in leaves from 0.11 % to 0.99%. Concentration of β-bitter acids in cones varied from 1.63 % to 1.93 % and in leaves from 0.02 % to 0.61 %.


2007 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Les C. Cwynar ◽  
Ray W. Spear

ABSTRACTThe most recent paleoenvironmental change to affect the Yukon centres around 6.0 ka. In the forested southern Yukon, black spruce (Picea mariana) and green alder (Alnus crispa) expanded their populations at most sites between 6.5 and 6.0 ka. Even in the semi-arid region of SW Yukon these species increased their populations, although slightly later at 5.5 ka. These vegetation changes in the south imply cooler and wetter growing seasons, i.e. more mesic conditions. In the region of the upper Blackstone River of central Yukon, the modern vegetation consists of shrub tundra with scattered groves of white spruce (Picea glauca) and even fewer black spruce. Open forests of predominantly white spruce occupied the region as early as 9.5 ka, but between 6.5 and 6.0 ka white spruce declined as black spruce became the dominant tree, coincidentally with an increase in green alder. By 5.0 ka the vegetation had acquired its modern composition. As in the south, these changes imply cooling. Less evidence is available on the expansion of alder and black spruce in the northern Yukon. Both species increased in forested areas (forest-tundra) at 6.0 ka. These changes again imply cooling. Because both black spruce and green alder were present in Yukon well before 6 ka, these vegetation changes cannot be ascribed to migration lags.


2000 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sam K. Takyi ◽  
Graham R. Hillman

Abstract Artificial reforestation experiments compared survival and growth of five species of coniferous containerized seedlings, and seedling browsing by ungulates on a clearcut, drained, and mounded peatland in the boreal forest. Six to seven growing seasons after planting, 91% of all seedlings had survived. Height and diameter growth in five species were ranked as follows: Siberian latch (Larix sibirica Ledeb.) > lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia Engelm.) > tamarack (Larix laricina [Du Roi] K. Koch) > black spruce (Picea mariana [Mill.] B.S.P.) = white spruce(Picea glauca [Moench] Voss). Overall, tamarack height and diameter growth was twice that of either spruce species. Height and diameter growth of tamarack, black spruce, and white spruce planted in the spring was 65% to 97% greater than that of the more robust seedlings for the same species planted in the fall of the same year. Repeated winter browsing by ungulates did not affect survival and growth of the five species. In an experiment where survival and growth of tamarack and black spruce seedlings planted on the mounds were compared with that of seedlings planted on the flat areas between mounds, there were no differences in survival, height, or root collar diameter growth between the two planting sites. In the event that suitable peatlands are used to augment existing timber supplies, lowering the water table through ditching, combined with mound-planting, is a feasible method of reforesting timber-harvested, boreal wet sites with Siberian latch, lodgepole pine, and white spruce. Tamarack and black spruce, however, survive and grow well on drained peatlands without mound-planting. North. J. Appl. For. 17(2):71-79.


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