Dataset Information

Morphological and moisture availability controls of the leaf area-to-sapwood area ratio: analysis of measurements on Australian trees.

ABSTRACT: The leaf area-to-sapwood area ratio (LA:SA) is a key plant trait that links photosynthesis to transpiration. The pipe model theory states that the sapwood cross-sectional area of a stem or branch at any point should scale isometrically with the area of leaves distal to that point. Optimization theory further suggests that LA:SA should decrease toward drier climates. Although acclimation of LA:SA to climate has been reported within species, much less is known about the scaling of this trait with climate among species. We compiled LA:SA measurements from 184 species of Australian evergreen angiosperm trees. The pipe model was broadly confirmed, based on measurements on branches and trunks of trees from one to 27 years old. Despite considerable scatter in LA:SA among species, quantile regression showed strong (0.2 < R1 < 0.65) positive relationships between two climatic moisture indices and the lowermost (5%) and uppermost (5-15%) quantiles of log LA:SA, suggesting that moisture availability constrains the envelope of minimum and maximum values of LA:SA typical for any given climate. Interspecific differences in plant hydraulic conductivity are probably responsible for the large scatter of values in the mid-quantile range and may be an important determinant of tree morphology.

SUBMITTER: Togashi HF

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4377269 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Morphological and moisture availability controls of the leaf area-to-sapwood area ratio: analysis of measurements on Australian trees.

Togashi Henrique Furstenau HF Prentice Iain Colin IC Evans Bradley John BJ Forrester David Ian DI Drake Paul P Feikema Paul P Brooksbank Kim K Eamus Derek D Taylor Daniel D

Ecology and evolution 20150225 6

The leaf area-to-sapwood area ratio (LA:SA) is a key plant trait that links photosynthesis to transpiration. The pipe model theory states that the sapwood cross-sectional area of a stem or branch at any point should scale isometrically with the area of leaves distal to that point. Optimization theory further suggests that LA:SA should decrease toward drier climates. Although acclimation of LA:SA to climate has been reported within species, much less is known about the scaling of this trait with ...[more]

PMID: 25859331

Similar Datasets

Project description:Across the semiarid ecosystems of the southwestern USA, there has been widespread encroachment of woody shrubs and trees including Juniperus species into former grasslands. Quantifying vegetation biomass in such ecosystems is important because semiarid ecosystems are thought to play an important role in the global land carbon (C) sink, and changes in plant biomass also have implications for primary consumers and potential bioenergy feedstock. Oneseed juniper (Juniperus monosperma) is common in desert grasslands and pinyon-juniper rangelands across the intermountain region of southwestern North America; however, there is limited information about the aboveground biomass (AGB) and sapwood area (SWA) for this species, causing uncertainties in estimates of C stock and transpiration fluxes. In this study, we report on canopy area (CA), stem diameter, maximum height, and biomass measurements from J. monosperma trees sampled from central New Mexico. Dry biomass ranged between 0.4 kg and 625 kg, and cross-sectional SWA was measured on n = 200 stems using image analysis. We found a strong linear relationship between CA and AGB (r2 = 0.96), with a similar slope to that observed in other juniper species, suggesting that this readily measured attribute is well suited for upscaling studies. There was a 9% bias between different approaches to measuring CA, indicating care should be taken to account for these differences to avoid systematic biases. We found equivalent stem diameter (ESD) was a strong predictor of biomass, but that existing allometric models underpredicted biomass in larger trees. We found SWA could be predicted from individual stem diameter with a power relationship, and that tree-level SWA should be estimated by summing the SWA predictions from individual stems rather than ESD. Our improved allometric models for J. monosperma support more accurate and robust measurements of C storage and transpiration fluxes in Juniperus-dominated ecosystems.

Project description:Background and aimsAlthough many hypotheses have been proposed to explain variation in leaf size, the mechanism underlying the variation remains not fully understood. To help understand leaf size variation, the cost/benefit of twig size was analysed, since, according to Corner's rule, twig size is positively correlated with the size of appendages the twig bears.MethodsAn extensive survey of twig functional traits, including twig (current-year shoots including one stem and few leaves) and leaf size (individual leaf area and mass), was conducted for 234 species from four broadleaved forests. The scaling relationship between twig mass and leaf area was determined using standardized major axis regression and phylogenetic independent comparative analyses.Key resultsLeaf area was found to scale positively and allometrically with both stem and twig mass (stem mass plus leaf mass) with slopes significantly smaller than 1.0, independent of life form and habitat type. Thus, the leaf area ratio (the ratio of total leaf area to stem or twig mass) decreases with increasing twig size. Moreover, the leaf area ratio correlated negatively with individual leaf mass. The results of phylogenetic independent comparativeanalyses were consistent with the correlations. Based on the above results, a simple model for twig size optimization was constructed, from which it is postulated that large leaf size-twig size may be favoured when leaf photosynthetic capacity is high and/or when leaf life span and/or stem longevity are long. The model's predictions are consistent with leaf size variation among habitats, in which leaf size tends to be small in poor habitats with a low primary productivity. The model also explains large variations in leaf size within habitats for which leaf longevity and stem longevity serve as important determinants.ConclusionsThe diminishing returns in the scaling of total leaf area with twig size can be explained in terms of a very simple model on twig siz

Dataset Information

Morphological and moisture availability controls of the leaf area-to-sapwood area ratio: analysis of measurements on Australian trees.

Publications

Morphological and moisture availability controls of the leaf area-to-sapwood area ratio: analysis of measurements on Australian trees.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets