Influence of leaf habit and growth rate of canopy trees on the development of seedling in the understorey

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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Stem orientation is related to growth rate, leaf dimensions, and the deciduous habit in temperate forest saplings

Canadian Journal of Botany ◽

10.1139/b01-106 ◽

2001 ◽

Vol 79 (11) ◽

pp. 1282-1291 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

David A King

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Leaf Size ◽

Morphological Plasticity ◽

Tree Architecture ◽

Extension Rate ◽

Deciduous Species ◽

Evergreen Species ◽

Leaf Habit ◽

Central Stem ◽

Leaf Dimensions

The orientation of the central stem is a key component of tree architecture. Stem orientation was related to extension rate in saplings growing in light conditions ranging from forest understories to large openings in 11 deciduous angiosperms, 1 evergreen angiosperm, and 2 evergreen conifers in the Appalachian Mountains of the southeastern United States. Most of the deciduous species showed pronounced differences between arced, dorsiventrally symmetric forms in slow-growing, shaded saplings and erect, radially symmetric forms in fast growing, sunlit saplings. In contrast, the evergreen species showed little or no shift in stem orientation in relation to growth rate and tended to be more erect in shade than the deciduous species. Evergreen saplings studied at other sites were also more erect in shade than the deciduous species studied here. Within the deciduous species, the degree of arcing in shade declined with increasing leaf size and petiole length. These results, involving two congeneric pairs, suggest that stem orientation is related more to leaf dimensions and leaf habit than to taxonomic classification per se. The positioning of a single cohort of nonoverlapping leaves in shaded deciduous saplings may increase the efficiency of light interception in arced forms, as compared with evergreen saplings, where new leaves must be positioned in relation to older leaf cohorts.Key words: tree architecture, growth rate, stem orientation, morphological plasticity.

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Non-structural carbon dynamics and allocation relate to growth rate and leaf habit in California oaks

Tree Physiology ◽

10.1093/treephys/tpv097 ◽

2015 ◽

pp. tpv097 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Susan Trumbore ◽

Claudia I. Czimczik ◽

Carlos A. Sierra ◽

Jan Muhr ◽

Xiaomei Xu

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Carbon Dynamics ◽

Leaf Habit ◽

Structural Carbon

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Effects of the Application of Biochar to Plant Growth and Net Primary Production in an Oak Forest

Forests ◽

10.3390/f12020152 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 152

Author(s):

Toshiyuki Ohtsuka ◽

Mitsutoshi Tomotsune ◽

Masaki Ando ◽

Yuki Tsukimori ◽

Hiroshi Koizumi ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Forest Ecosystems ◽

Net Primary Production ◽

Reproductive Organs ◽

Application Rate ◽

Oak Forest ◽

Central Japan ◽

Relative Growth ◽

Canopy Trees ◽

Oak Trees

Few studies have evaluated the application of biochar to forest ecosystems and their responses under field conditions. We manually spread grounded biochar on the forest floor, at rates of 0 (control), 5, and 10 Mg ha−1 (C0, C5 and C10, respectively), of an oak forest in central Japan to test the effects of biochar on tree growth and productivity. The relative growth rate of the diameter at breast height (dbh) of canopy oak trees (dbh > 20 cm) significantly increased in C10 compared with that of the control (C0), but not in C5, in the second to third years after application. Despite the increasing growth rate of canopy trees, foliage production (NPPF) and woody production (NPPW) did not respond to biochar application. Conversely, the production of reproductive organs (NPPR, mainly oak acorns) increased in line with the biochar application rate gradients (1.04 ± 0.09 Mg ha−1 yr−1 in C0, 1.30 ± 0.08 Mg ha−1 yr−1 in C5, and 1.47 ± 0.13 Mg ha−1 yr−1 in C10). Since the contribution of NPPR to total NPP was fairly small, there were no significant differences in total NPP (=NPPW + NPPF + NPPR) for C5 (14.57 ± 0.20 Mg ha−1 yr−1) or C10 (16.11 ± 0.73 Mg ha−1 yr−1) compared with the control (15.07 ± 0.48 Mg ha−1 yr−1).

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Relating leaf photosynthetic rate to whole-plant growth: drought and shade effects on seedlings of four Quercus species

Functional Plant Biology ◽

10.1071/fp08149 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 35 (8) ◽

pp. 725 ◽

Cited By ~ 49

Author(s):

José L. Quero ◽

Rafael Villar ◽

Teodoro Marañón ◽

Regino Zamora ◽

Dolores Vega ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Photosynthetic Rate ◽

Seed Mass ◽

Response Curves ◽

Drought Treatment ◽

Evergreen Species ◽

Leaf Habit ◽

Wide Range ◽

Quercus Species ◽

Absolute Growth

Understanding the impacts of combined resource supplies on seedlings is critical to enable prediction of establishment growth, and forest dynamics. We investigated the effects of irradiance and water treatments on absolute growth, and relative growth rate (RGR) and its components, for seedlings of four Quercus species differing in leaf habit and with a wide variation in seed mass. Plants were grown for 6.5 months at three levels of irradiance (100, 27, and 3% daylight), and treated during the last 2.5 months with two watering treatments (frequent watering v. suspended watering). Both shade and drought reduced seedling growth rates, with a significant interaction: under full irradiance the drought treatment had a stronger impact on RGR and final biomass than under deep shade. For three species, seed mass was positively related to absolute growth, with stronger correlations at lower irradiance. The evergreen species grew faster than the deciduous species, though leaf habit accounted for a minor part of the interspecific variation in absolute growth. Seedling biomass was determined positively either by RGR or seed mass; RGR was positively linked with net assimilation rate (NAR) and leaf mass fraction (LMF), and seed mass was negatively linked with RGR and LMF, but positively linked with NAR. Seedling RGR was not correlated with light-saturated net photosynthetic rate, but was strongly correlated with the net carbon balance estimated, from photosynthetic light-response curves, considering daily variation in irradiance. These findings suggest an approach to applying short-term physiological measurements to predict the RGR and absolute growth rate of seedlings in a wide range of combinations of irradiance and water supplies.

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The threshold energy for atom displacement in fcc metals

Proceedings, annual meeting, Electron Microscopy Society of America ◽

10.1017/s0424820100175788 ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 48 (4) ◽

pp. 530-531

Author(s):

Wilfried Sigle ◽

Matthias Hohenstein ◽

Alfred Seeger

Keyword(s):

Growth Rate ◽

Elevated Temperatures ◽

Threshold Energy ◽

Dislocation Loops ◽

Absolute Minimum ◽

Voltage Electron ◽

Atom Displacement ◽

Electron Microscopes ◽

Fcc Metal

Prolonged electron irradiation of metals at elevated temperatures usually leads to the formation of large interstitial-type dislocation loops. The growth rate of the loops is proportional to the total cross-section for atom displacement,which is implicitly connected with the threshold energy for atom displacement, Ed . Thus, by measuring the growth rate as a function of the electron energy and the orientation of the specimen with respect to the electron beam, the anisotropy of Ed can be determined rather precisely. We have performed such experiments in situ in high-voltage electron microscopes on Ag and Au at 473K as a function of the orientation and on Au as a function of temperature at several fixed orientations.Whereas in Ag minima of Ed are found close to <100>,<110>, and <210> (13-18eV), (Fig.1) atom displacement in Au requires least energy along <100>(15-19eV) (Fig.2). Au is thus the first fcc metal in which the absolute minimum of the threshold energy has been established not to lie in or close to the <110> direction.

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