The Smaller the Leaf Is, the Faster the Leaf Water Loses in a Temperate Forest.

ABSTRACT: Leaf size (i.e., leaf surface area and leaf dry mass) profoundly affects a variety of biological carbon, water and energy processes. Therefore, the remarkable variability in individual leaf size and its trade-off with total leaf number in a plant have particularly important implications for understanding the adaption strategy of plants to environmental changes. The various leaf sizes of plants growing in the same habitat are expected to have distinct abilities of thermal regulation influencing leaf water loss and shedding heat. Here, we sampled 16 tree species co-occurring in a temperate forest in northeastern China to quantify the variation of leaf, stomata and twigs traits, and to determine the relationships of leaf size with leaf number and leaf water loss. We examined the right-skewed

SUBMITTER: Wang C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6369174 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature