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

• DOI: 10.1002/ece3.1344
• Publication Date: 2015-02-25T05:39:33Z
• Authors: Henrique Furstena...; Iain Colin Prentice; Bradley John Evans; David Ian Forrester; Paul Drake; Paul Feikema; Kim Brooksbank; Derek Eamus; Daniel Taylor
• Keywords: 0106 biological sciences; leaf area; 550; sapwood area; tree morphology; Environmental Sciences & Ecology; 01 natural sciences; ALLOCATION; Climatic moisture; QUANTILE REGRESSION; HEIGHT; ACCLIMATION; pipe model; CONVERGENCE; SCOTS PINE; Original Research; 580; Evolutionary Biology; Science & Technology; Ecology; CONDUCTANCE; DIAMETER; plant hydraulics; 15. Life on land; WATER-USE; FOREST; Life Sciences & Biomedicine

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