Morphological plasticity of shade‐tolerant tropical rainforest tree seedlings exposed to light changes

• DOI: 10.1111/j.0269-8463.2004.00831.x
• Publication Date: 2004-05-14T14:15:35Z
• Authors: J. M. G. BLOOR; P. J. GRUBB
• Keywords: Shade tolerance; Specific leaf area; Understory; Leaf size; Tropical rain forest; Trait; Relative growth rate

Summary Previous studies on tropical rainforest seedlings have demonstrated low physiological plasticity in shade‐tolerant species response to light, but little is known about the morphological of such species. We examined traits 10 tree grown four combinations high and light (10 0·8% full daylight, respectively). Plasticity each trait was quantified using coefficients variation. Plant varied their plasticity, could broadly be ranked as follows: stem form > crown root leaf biomass allocation. Acclimation an increase generally greater than acclimation a decrease showed significant changes high–low treatment. The ranking according depending examined. Mean across all treatments no relationship with either dry mass or relative growth rate (RGR M ) However, fraction (fraction total mass) negatively correlated low‐light RGR Principal components analysis indicated clustering plasticity. These results suggest different strategies among seedlings.