Trade-Offs between Growth Rate, Tree Size and Lifespan of Mountain Pine (Pinus montana) in the Swiss National Park.

ABSTRACT: A within-species trade-off between growth rates and lifespan has been observed across different taxa of trees, however, there is some uncertainty whether this trade-off also applies to shade-intolerant tree species. The main objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between radial growth, tree size and lifespan of shade-intolerant mountain pines. For 200 dead standing mountain pines (Pinus montana) located along gradients of aspect, slope steepness and elevation in the Swiss National Park, radial annual growth rates and lifespan were reconstructed. While early growth (i.e. mean tree-ring width over the first 50 years) correlated positively with diameter at the time of tree death, a negative correlation resulted with lifespan, i.e. rapidly growing mountain pines face a tr

SUBMITTER: Bigler C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4773076 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature