Morphological and moisture availability controls of the leaf area‐to‐sapwood area ratio: analysis of measurements on Australian trees
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
04 agricultural and veterinary sciences
15. Life on land
WATER-USE
FOREST
3. Good health
0401 agriculture, forestry, and fisheries
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
DOI:
10.1002/ece3.1344
Publication Date:
2015-02-25T05:39:33Z
AUTHORS (9)
ABSTRACT
Abstract
The leaf area‐to‐sapwood area ratio (LA:SA) is a key plant trait that links photosynthesis to transpiration. The pipe model theory states that the sapwood cross‐sectional area of a stem or branch at any point should scale isometrically with the area of leaves distal to that point. Optimization theory further suggests that LA:SA should decrease toward drier climates. Although acclimation of LA:SA to climate has been reported within species, much less is known about the scaling of this trait with climate among species.
We compiled LA:SA measurements from 184 species of Australian evergreen angiosperm trees. The pipe model was broadly confirmed, based on measurements on branches and trunks of trees from one to 27 years old. Despite considerable scatter in LA:SA among species, quantile regression showed strong (0.2 < R1 < 0.65) positive relationships between two climatic moisture indices and the lowermost (5%) and uppermost (5–15%) quantiles of log LA:SA, suggesting that moisture availability constrains the envelope of minimum and maximum values of LA:SA typical for any given climate.
Interspecific differences in plant hydraulic conductivity are probably responsible for the large scatter of values in the mid‐quantile range and may be an important determinant of tree morphology.
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CITATIONS (33)
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