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Within-crown acclimation of leaf-level physiological and morphological parameters in young loblolly pine stands

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Light plays a minor role in the within-crown acclimation of physiological and morphological parameters in small loblolly pine trees.

Abstract

Whether the plasticity of foliage within the crown is driven by light or height is still not well known, especially for small trees. The present study was conducted in two loblolly pine (Pinus taeda L.) stands growing on two sites, during the third year after planting. The following traits were investigated in the lower and upper crowns of the same individuals twice per season (spring, summer, and autumn): photosynthesis (A sat), stomatal conductance (g s), intrinsic water use efficiency (WUEint), nitrogen concentration ***(N), specific leaf area (SLA), photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE), fascicle diameter, and needles per fascicle. The trees were open-grown at the beginning of the study; thus, any vertical gradient of the traits was not assumed to be driven by light. Overall, A sat, g s, PNUE, and SLA tended to be higher in the lower than in the upper crown, whereas N, fascicle diameter, and needles per fascicle were higher in the upper than in the lower crown. However, although all traits were affected by crown position, the magnitude of this effect differed by season. The fact that crown position affected most of the traits in spring and summer, but not in autumn, suggest that height might be the main driver of foliage acclimation. However, considering that crown position affected SLA in autumn but not the photosynthetic rate or N concentration, it is possible that foliar acclimation of these traits was mainly driven by light in this season.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded through the NSF Center for Advanced Forestry Systems (CAFS) and the Forest Productivity Cooperative (FPC). Funding for this work was also provided in part by the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station and the Program McIntire Stennis of the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture. We also thank John Peterson and Samuel Frye for their help in the field work, Timothy Albaugh for providing the meteorological data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro Tecnológico del Álamo (Poplar Technology Center), Universidad de Talca, 2 Norte 685, P.O. Box 747, Talca, Chile

    Marco A. Yáñez, Fernando Guerra, Ricardo M. Baettig & Francisco Zamudio

  2. Department of Forest Resources and Environmental Conservation, Virginia Tech, 228 Cheatham Hall (0324), Blacksburg, VA, 2406, USA

    Thomas R. Fox & John R. Seiler

  3. AER Tandil, Gral. Rodríguez 370, 7000, Tandil, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Javier E. Gyenge

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  1. Marco A. Yáñez
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  2. Thomas R. Fox
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  3. John R. Seiler
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  4. Fernando Guerra
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  5. Ricardo M. Baettig
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  6. Francisco Zamudio
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  7. Javier E. Gyenge
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Correspondence to Marco A. Yáñez.

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Communicated by G. Wieser.

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Yáñez, M.A., Fox, T.R., Seiler, J.R. et al. Within-crown acclimation of leaf-level physiological and morphological parameters in young loblolly pine stands. Trees 31, 1849–1857 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-017-1589-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-017-1589-4

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