Becoming less tolerant with age: sugar maple, shade, and ontogeny

Oecologia
Kerrie M SendallP. B. Reich

Abstract

Although shade tolerance is often assumed to be a fixed trait, recent work suggests ontogenetic changes in the light requirements of tree species. We determined the influence of gas exchange, biomass distribution, and self-shading on ontogenetic variation in the instantaneous aboveground carbon balance of Acer saccharum. We quantified the aboveground biomass distributions of 18 juveniles varying in height and growing in low light in a temperate forest understory in Minnesota, USA. Gas exchange rates of leaf and stem tissues were measured, and the crown architecture of each individual was quantified. The YPLANT program was used to estimate the self-shaded fraction of each crown and to model net leaf-level carbon gain. Leaf respiration and photosynthesis per gram of leaf tissue increased with plant size. In contrast, stem respiration rates per gram of stem tissue declined, reflecting a shift in the distribution of stem diameter sizes from smaller (with higher respiration) to larger diameter classes. However, these trends were outweighed by ontogenetic increases in self-shading (which reduces the net photosynthesis realized) and stem mass fraction (which increases the proportion of purely respiratory tissue) in terms of influence ...Continue Reading

References

Feb 28, 2001·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·K J Niklas, B J Enquist
Jan 27, 2006·Nature·Peter B ReichJacek Oleksyn
Nov 22, 2007·The New Phytologist·Robert O TeskeyMary Anne McGuire
Nov 1, 2008·American Journal of Botany·Omar R LopezThomas J Givnish
May 1, 2008·American Journal of Botany·Karl J Niklas, Edward D Cobb
Jul 1, 1998·American Journal of Botany·A Knapp, G Carter
May 16, 2012·Annals of Botany·Christopher H LuskDaniel S Falster
Sep 17, 2014·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America·Peter B ReichJacek Oleksyn

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