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Linking multiple-level tree traits with biomass accumulation in native tree species used for reforestation in Panama

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Abstract

To improve establishment yield and carbon accumulation during reforestation, analyses of species adaptations to local environments are needed. Here we measured, at the individual scale, links between biomass accumulation and multiple-level tree traits: biomass partitioning, crown morphology and leaf physiology. The study was carried out on one- and three-year-old individuals of five tropical tree species assigned to pioneer (P) or non-pioneer (NP) functional groups. Among the species, Cedrela odorata, Luehea seemannii and Hura crepitans showed the greatest biomass accumulation. On our seasonally dry site, species performance during the first year was dependent on a greater investment in above-ground foraging, while performance after three years was mainly related to water relations. However, large biomass accumulations were not simply associated with an efficient water use but also with contrasting water uses, based on inter-specific relationships. Generally, greater carbon isotope discrimination (Δleaf) was related to greater allocation to roots. Species with high Δleaf generally showed high leaf potential nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE), suggesting that lower water use efficiency (WUE) increases the efficiency of photosynthetically active N. Also, PNUE was negatively correlated to leaf mass per area (LMA), implying that photosynthetically active N is diluted as total leaf mass increases. Finally, no distinction in measured traits, including biomass accumulation, was observed between the two functional groups.

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Acknowledgments

The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) provided facilities and logistical support in Panama. The authors gratefully thank Chrystal Healy for help in bringing together the growth and allocation data for Anarcardium excelsum. We are grateful to José Monteza and Benitio Teran for field assistance with crown morphology and leaf gas exchange measurements. We would also like to thank Dr. Michael Scherer-Lorenzen for supervising carbon discrimination and leaf nitrogen analyses at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and Dr. Bill Parsons for English-language editing. Part of this research was supported by a discovery grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada to C. Potvin.

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  1. Lluis Coll

    Present address: Centre Tecnològic Forestal de Catalunya, Pujada del seminari s/n, 25280, Solsona, Spain

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Centre for Forest Research (CFR), Université du Québec à Montréal, C.P. 8888, H3C 3P8, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Sylvain Delagrange, Christian Messier & Lluis Coll

  2. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Department of Biology, McGill University, 1205 Dr Penfield, H3A 1B1, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Catherine Potvin

  3. Institut québecois d’Aménagement de la Forêt feuillue, 58 rue principale, J0V 1V0, Ripon, QC, Canada

    Sylvain Delagrange

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  1. Sylvain Delagrange
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Correspondence to Sylvain Delagrange.

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Communicated by C. Lovelock.

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Delagrange, S., Potvin, C., Messier, C. et al. Linking multiple-level tree traits with biomass accumulation in native tree species used for reforestation in Panama. Trees 22, 337–349 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-007-0189-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-007-0189-0

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