Stem anatomy and relative growth rate in seedlings of a wide range of woody plant species and types

Castro‐Díez, Pilar; Puyravaud, Jean Philippe; Cornelissen, J. H. C.; Villar-Salvador, Pedro

doi:10.1007/s004420050563

Cited by 105 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…The higher average growth values exhibited by pines as compared with oaks agree with forestry knowledge in the Iberian Peninsula (Ruiz de la Torre, 2001) and with other studies (Castro-Díez et al, 1998;Pausas et al, 2004;Zavala et al, 2000). Intra-genus differences in average growth also agreed with previous knowledge.…”

Section: Interspecific Differences Along Factorssupporting

confidence: 90%

Rank reversals in tree growth along tree size, competition and climatic gradients for four forest canopy dominant species in Central Spain

et al. 2008

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-• Interspecific differences in tree growth patterns with respect to biotic and abiotic factors are key for understanding forest structure and dynamics, and predicting potential changes under climate change.• Repeated observations from the Spanish Forest Inventory (SFI) were used to parameterize maximum likelihood estimators of tree growth as a function of tree size, competition indices and climate for Pinus pinaster, P. sylvestris, Quercus ilex and Q. pyrenaica.• Significant responses to both biotic and abiotic factors were found, with interspecific differences in species performance along competition, temperature and precipitation gradients. Q. ilex was the species most tolerant to competition while P. pinaster was the species most sensitive to climatic variation. Species relative positions shifted along gradients of these factors with rank reversals in species performance along size, competition and climatic gradients.• The results based on average growth matched previous forestry classifications and experimental studies on relative growth rate (RGR).• When examining growth along studied abiotic and biotic gradients, a mismatch was found between species performance ranks as predicted by our models and information derived from previous knowledge. Those discrepancies highlight the relevance of ontogeny and environmental heterogeneity in defining species performance along competition gradients. niche differentiation / Pinus pinaster / Pinus sylvestris / Quercus ilex / Quercus pyrenaica Résumé -Interversion de rangs dans la croissance des arbres en relation avec la taille de l'arbre, la compétition et les gradients climatiques pour quatre espèces forestières dominantes dans la canopée.• Les différences interspécifiques dans les modèles de croissance des arbres, pour ce qui concerne les facteurs biotiques et abiotiques, sont des clés pour la compréhension des structures et des dynamiques forestières, et pour prédire les changement potentiels avec le changement climatique.• Des observations répétées de l'Inventaire Forestier Espagnol (SFI) ont été utilisées pour paramétrer les estimateurs de probabilité maximum de croissance des arbres comme une fonction de la taille de l'arbre, des indices de compétition et du climat pour Pinus pinaster, Pinus sylvestris, Quercus ilex et Quercus pyrenaica.• Des réponses significatives aux facteurs biotiques et abiotiques ont été trouvées, avec des différences interspécifiques pour les performances des espèces en relation avec la compétition, les gradients de température et de précipitations. Quercus ilex a été l'espèce la plus tolérante à la compétition tandis que Pinus pinaster a été l'espèce la plus sensible aux variations climatiques. Les positions relatives des espèces ont changé en relation avec les gradients de ces facteurs avec des interversions de rang pour les performances des espèces en relation avec la taille, la compétition et les gradients climatiques.• Les résultats basés sur la moyenne de croissance sont en adéquation avec la classification forestière antér...

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Section: Interspecific Differences Along Factorssupporting

confidence: 90%

Rank reversals in tree growth along tree size, competition and climatic gradients for four forest canopy dominant species in Central Spain

et al. 2008

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“…Castro-Diez et al 1998;McCully 1995). Thus, species from environments where water is available only episodically might have larger xylem vessels, larger diameter roots, and lower SRL to maximise water uptake when water is available.…”

Section: Anatomy and Developmentmentioning

confidence: 96%

Seedling root anatomy and morphology: an examination of ecological differentiation with rainfall using phylogenetically independent contrasts

2002

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We examined patterns of seedling root architecture, morphology and anatomy in Australian perennial plants chosen as phylogenetically independent contrasts (PICs) for rainfall in the areas they inhabit. Our objective was to assess whether there are consistent evolutionary patterns in structure of seedling root systems in species from different rainfall environments when examined across multiple evolutionary lineages. Seedlings were grown to a standardised developmental stage under controlled conditions. We found that seedling root systems of species restricted to low rainfall environments are characterised by greater proportional allocation to main root axis and have proportionally smaller main root axis diameter and areas of stele and xylem. Species of low rainfall environments also had higher specific root length (SRL) of the main axis, but lower SRL when the entire root system was considered. Seedling root system elongation rates were higher in species of high rainfall relative to those of low rainfall environments, paralleling expected differences in relative growth rate. The higher root system elongation rates in species of high rainfall environments were associated with greater numbers of growing tips in the root system, but not with differences in elongation rates of individual tips, relative to species of low rainfall environments.

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“…Low WD can contribute to higher stem growth rate because more volume is produced per unit biomass (King et al 2005). Conversely, high-density wood tends to be constructed of small cells with thick walls and limited intercellular space (Castro-Diez et al 1998). This makes stems more resistant to breakage (van Gelder et al 2006) and to fungal and pathogen attack (Augspurger 1984), thus contributing to enhanced plant survival (Muller-Landau 2004).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are Functional Traits Good Predictors of Demographic Rates? Evidence From Five Neotropical Forests

Poorter

Wright

Paz

et al. 2008

Ecology

650

772

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Abstract. A central goal of comparative plant ecology is to understand how functional traits vary among species and to what extent this variation has adaptive value. Here we evaluate relationships between four functional traits (seed volume, specific leaf area, wood density, and adult stature) and two demographic attributes (diameter growth and tree mortality) for large trees of 240 tree species from five Neotropical forests. We evaluate how these key functional traits are related to survival and growth and whether similar relationships between traits and demography hold across different tropical forests.There was a tendency for a trade-off between growth and survival across rain forest tree species. Wood density, seed volume, and adult stature were significant predictors of growth and/or mortality. Both growth and mortality rates declined with an increase in wood density. This is consistent with greater construction costs and greater resistance to stem damage for denser wood. Growth and mortality rates also declined as seed volume increased. This is consistent with an adaptive syndrome in which species tolerant of low resource availability (in this case shade-tolerant species) have large seeds to establish successfully and low inherent growth and mortality rates. Growth increased and mortality decreased with an increase in adult stature, because taller species have a greater access to light and longer life spans. Specific leaf area was, surprisingly, only modestly informative for the performance of large trees and had ambiguous relationships with growth and survival.Single traits accounted for 9-55% of the interspecific variation in growth and mortality rates at individual sites. Significant correlations with demographic rates tended to be similar across forests and for phylogenetically independent contrasts as well as for cross-species analyses that treated each species as an independent observation. In combination, the morphological traits explained 41% of the variation in growth rate and 54% of the variation in mortality rate, with wood density being the best predictor of growth and mortality. Relationships between functional traits and demographic rates were statistically similar across a wide range of Neotropical forests. The consistency of these results strongly suggests that tropical rain forest species face similar trade-offs in different sites and converge on similar sets of solutions.

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Stem anatomy and relative growth rate in seedlings of a wide range of woody plant species and types

Cited by 105 publications

References 46 publications

Rank reversals in tree growth along tree size, competition and climatic gradients for four forest canopy dominant species in Central Spain

Rank reversals in tree growth along tree size, competition and climatic gradients for four forest canopy dominant species in Central Spain

Seedling root anatomy and morphology: an examination of ecological differentiation with rainfall using phylogenetically independent contrasts

Are Functional Traits Good Predictors of Demographic Rates? Evidence From Five Neotropical Forests

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