Seedlings of temperate rainforest conifer and angiosperm trees differ in leaf area display.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

The contemporary relegation of conifers mainly to cold or infertile sites has been ascribed to low competitive ability, as a result of the hydraulic inefficiency of tracheids and their seedlings' initial dependence on small foliage areas. Here it is hypothesized that, in temperate rainforests, the larger leaves of angiosperms also reduce self-shading and thus enable display of larger effective foliage areas than the numerous small leaves of conifers.

Methods

This hypothesis was tested using 3-D modelling of plant architecture and structural equation modelling to compare self-shading and light interception potential of seedlings of six conifers and 12 angiosperm trees from temperate rainforests. The ratio of displayed leaf area to plant mass (LAR(d)) was u

SUBMITTER: Lusk CH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3380592 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature