Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Growth rings in tropical trees: role of functional traits, environment, and phylogeny

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Trees Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Key message

Subjective and anatomy-based quantitative indices of distinctness of growth rings in tropical trees were related to deciduousness, species maximum height, and also potentially to local topography, independent of phylogenetic relationships.

Abstract

Most tropical tree species do not produce distinct growth rings, and the causes of this phenomenon have not received sufficient quantitative study. It has been shown that rainfall seasonality influences the formation of growth rings in some deciduous taxa. However, the numerous exceptions observed call for an examination of additional drivers of the phenomenon. We therefore hypothesized that in addition to seasonal climatic stress, functional and phylogenetic constraints may determine growth-ring distinctness. Ten potentially influential factors were examined in 38 Indian tropical tree species. Distinctness of growth rings was quantitatively assessed based on both subjective visual criteria and objective measures of anatomical characters. Multivariate and phylogenetically constrained analyses were used to test for functional, environmental, and phylogenetic effects. First, subjective scores of growth-ring distinctness correlated with objective anatomical measurements of vessel size and porosity related to water conductance, but also with additional anatomical characteristics unrelated to water dynamics. Second, ring distinctness variables were primarily related to deciduousness and species maximum height, and also weakly influenced by the topographic slope. A phylogenetic signal was detected in wood specific gravity values, the climatic variable of dry season rainfall, and the subjective distinctness score of growth rings, but accounting for phylogenetic structure did not significantly improve the prediction of ring distinctness. Thus, there was no evidence of an evolutionary constraint on the relationship in our sample of species. Our study thus demonstrates how distinctness of growth rings in tropical trees can be objectively represented on a continuous scale, and provides a quantitative explanation for its variability.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Alves ES, Angyalossy-Alfonso V (2000) Ecological trends in the wood anatomy of some Brazilian species. 1. Growth rings and vessels. IAWA J 21:3–30

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baas P (1982) Systematic, phylogenetic, and ecological wood anatomy—history and perspectives. In: Baas P (ed) New perspectives in wood anatomy. Martinus Nijhoff/Dr W Junk Publishers, The Hague, pp 23–58

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharyya AA, Shah SK (2009) Climatic tree-ring studies in India: past appraisal, present status and future prospects. IAWA J 30:361–370

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bhattacharyya A, Shekhar M, Shah SK (2012) Role of tree-ring study in forest management: prospects in Indian context. In: Panda S, Ghosh C (eds) Diversity and conservation of plants and traditional knowledge. Bishen Singh Mahendra Pal Singh, Dehradun, pp 287–298

    Google Scholar 

  • Blomberg SP, Garland T (2002) Tempo and mode in evolution: phylogenetic inertia, adaptation and comparative methods. J Evol Biol 15:899–910

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Blomberg SP, Garland T, Ives AR (2003) Testing for phylogenetic signal in comparative data: behavioral traits are more labile. Evolution 57:717–745

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Borchert R (1999) Climatic periodicity, phenology, and cambium activity in tropical dry forest trees. IAWA J 20:239–247

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Boura A, De Franceschi D (2007) Is porous wood structure exclusive of deciduous trees? CR Palevol 6:385–391

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brienen RJW, Zuidema PA (2005) Relating tree growth to rainfall in Bolivian rain forests: a test for six species using tree ring analysis. Oecologia 146:1–12

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Callado CH, Neto SJS, Scarano FR, Costa CG (2001) Periodicity of growth rings in some flood-prone trees of the Atlantic Rain Forest in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Trees 15:492–497

    Google Scholar 

  • Carlquist S (1988) Comparative wood anatomy: Systematic, ecological and evolutionary aspects of dicotyledon wood. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Chave J, Coomes D, Jansen S et al (2009) Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Ecol Lett 12:351–366

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chowdhury KA (1953) The role of initial parenchyma in the transformation of the structure diffuse-porous to ring-porous in the secondary xylem of the genus Gmelina Linn. Proc Nat Inst Sci India 19:361–369

    Google Scholar 

  • Chowdhury KA (1964) Growth rings in tropical trees and taxonomy. J Ind Bot Soc 43:334–342

    Google Scholar 

  • Creber GT, Chaloner WG (1984) Influence of environmental factors on the wood structure of living and fossil trees. Bot Rev 50:357–448

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dave YS, Rao KS (1982) Seasonal activity of the vascular cambium in Gmelina arborea Roxb. IAWA Bull 3:59–65

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Alvim PT (1964) Tree growth periodicity in tropical climates. In: Zimmerman MH (ed) The formation of wood in forest trees. Academic Press, New York, pp 479–495

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Détienne P (1989) Appearance and periodicity of growth rings in some tropical woods. IAWA Bull 10:123–132

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dray S, Dufour AB (2007) The ade4 package: implementing the duality diagram for ecologists. J Stat Softw 22:1–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Eckstein D (2004) Change in past environments: secrets of the tree hydrosystem. New Phytol 163:1–4

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elouard C (2000) Vegetation features in relation to biogeography. In: Ramakrishnan PS, Chandrashekara UM, Elouard C et al (eds) Mountain biodiversity, land use dynamics, and traditional ecological knowledge. Oxford/IBH, New Delhi, pp 25–42

    Google Scholar 

  • Fahn A, Burley J, Longman KA, Mariaux A (1981) Possible contributions of wood anatomy to the determination of the age of tropical trees. In: Bormann FH, Berlyn G (eds) Age and growth rate of tropical trees: New dimensions for research. Yale University, New Haven, pp 31–54

    Google Scholar 

  • Fichtler E, Worbes M (2012) Wood anatomical variables in tropical trees and their relation to site conditions and individual tree morphology. IAWA J 33:119–140

    Google Scholar 

  • Fortunel C, Ruelle J, Beauchêne J et al (2014) Wood specific gravity and anatomy of branches and roots in 113 Amazonian rainforest tree species across environmental gradients. New Phytol 202:79–94

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fox J, Weisberg S (2011) An R companion to applied regression, 2nd edn. Sage, Thousand Oaks

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamble JS (1922) A manual of Indian timbers. Sampson Low, Marston and Co, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gamble JS (1935) Flora of the Presidency of Madras. Adlard, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Gärtner H, Schweingruber FH (2013) Microscopic preparation techniques for plant stem analysis. Kessel Publishing House, Remagen

    Google Scholar 

  • Gessler PE, Moore ID, McKenzie NJ, Ryan PJ (1995) Soil-landscape modeling and spatial prediction of soil attributes. Int J GIS. 9:421–432

    Google Scholar 

  • Grime JP (1977) Evidence for the existence of three primary strategies in plants and its relevance to ecological and evolutionary theory. Am Nat 111:1169–1194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Groenendijk P, Sass-Klaassen U, Bongers F, Zuidema PA (2014) Potential of tree-ring analysis in a wet tropical forest: a case study on 22 commercial tree species in Central Africa. For Ecol Manag 323:65–78

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Heimsch C, Wetmore RH (1939) The significance of wood anatomy in the taxonomy of the Juglandaceae. Am J Bot 26:651–660

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hijmans RJ, Cameron SE, Parra JL et al (2005) Very high resolution interpolated climate surfaces for global land areas. Int J Climatol 25:1965–1978

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hill MO, Smith AJE (1976) Principal component analysis of taxonomic data with multi-state discrete characters. Taxon 25:249–255

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • IAWA Committee (1989) IAWA list of microscopic features for hardwood identification. IAWA Bull 10:219–332

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Iida Y, Poorter L, Sterck FJ et al (2012) Wood density explains architectural differentiation across 145 co-occurring tropical tree species. Funct Ecol 26:274–282

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kembel SW, Cowan PD, Helmus MR et al (2010) Picante: R tools for integrating phylogenies and ecology. Bioinformatics 26:1463–1464

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • King DA, Davies SJ, Nur Supardi MN, Tan S (2005) Tree growth is related to light interception and wood density in two mixed Dipterocarp forests of Malaysia. Funct Ecol 19:445–453

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • King DA, Davies SJ, Noor NSM (2006) Growth and mortality are related to adult tree size in a Malaysian mixed dipterocarp forest. For Ecol Manag 223:152–158

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Krepkowski J, Bräuning A, Gebrekirstos A (2012) Growth dynamics and potential for cross-dating and multi-century climate reconstruction of Podocarpus falcatus in Ethiopia. Dendrochronologia 30:257–265

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lisi CS, Tomazello FM, Botosso PC et al (2008) Tree-ring formation, radial increment periodicity, and phenology of tree species from a seasonal semi-deciduous forest in southeast Brazil. IAWA J 29:189–207

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mabberley DJ (2005) The plant-book: a portable dictionary of the vascular plants. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge

    Google Scholar 

  • Marcati CR, Oliveira JS, Machado SR (2006) Growth rings in cerrado woody species: Occurrence and anatomical markers. Biota Neotropica v6 (n3), http://www.biotaneotropica.org.br/v6n3/pt/abstract?article+bn00206032006. Accessed 6 Aug 2015

  • Mariaux A (2016) Nature and periodicity of growth rings in African timber: can they be used to determine the age of trees? (Translated by: I. Bossanyi) Bois et Forêts des Tropiques 327:51–76

    Google Scholar 

  • McDonald PG, Fonseca CR, Overton JMCC, Westoby M (2003) Leaf-size divergence along rainfall and soil-nutrient gradients: is the method of size reduction common among clades? Funct Ecol 17:50–57

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Menezes M, Berger U, Worbes M (2003) Annual growth rings and long-term growth patterns of mangrove trees from the Bragança peninsula, North Brazil. Wetl Ecol Manag 11:233–242

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Moore ID, Gessler PE, Nielsen GA, Petersen GA (1993) Terrain attributes: estimation methods and scale effects. In: Jakeman AJ et al (eds) Modeling change in environmental systems. Wiley, London

    Google Scholar 

  • Murthy KRK, Yoganarasimhan SN (1990) Flora of Coorg (Kodagu) Karnataka. Vimsat Publishers, Bangalore

    Google Scholar 

  • Myers N, Mittermeier RA, Mittermeier CG et al (2000) Biodiversity hotpsots for conservation priorities. Nature 403:853–858

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • NASA LP DAAC (2011) ASTER Global Digital Elevation Model (GDEM). Version 2. ASTER GDEM is a product of NASA and METI. NASA EOSDIS Land Processes DAAC, USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center, Sioux Falls, South Dakota (https://lpdaac.usgs.gov). Accessed 20 Aug 2015, at http://doi.org/10.5067/ASTER/ASTGTM.002

  • Nath CD, Dattaraja HS, Suresh HS et al (2006) Patterns of tree growth in relation to environmental variability in the tropical dry deciduous forest at Mudumalai, southern India. J Biosci 31:651–669

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Nath CD, Pélissier R, Ramesh BR, Garcia C (2011) Promoting native trees in shade coffee plantations of southern India: comparison of growth rates with the exotic Grevillea robusta. Agrofor Syst 83:107–119

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nath CD, Boura A, De Franceschi D, Pélissier R (2012) Assessing the utility of direct and indirect methods for estimating tropical tree age in the Western Ghats, India. Trees 26:1017–1029

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Nazma Ganapathy PM, Bhat KM et al (1981) A handbook of Kerala timbers. Kerala Forest Research Institute, Peechi

    Google Scholar 

  • Ouédraogo D-Y, Mortier F, Gourlet-Fleury S et al (2013) Slow-growing species cope best with drought: evidence from long-term measurements in a tropical semi-deciduous moist forest of Central Africa. J Ecol 101:1459–1470

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Paradis E, Claude J, Strimmer K (2004) APE: analyses of phylogenetics and evolution in R language. Bioinform 20:289–290

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pascal J-P (1988) Wet evergreen forests of the Western Ghats of India; ecology, structure, floristic composition and succession. Institut Français de Pondicherry, Pondicherry

    Google Scholar 

  • Pearson RS, Brown HP (1932) Commercial timbers of India. Government of India Central Publication Branch, Calcutta

    Google Scholar 

  • Pélissier R, Pascal J-P (2000) Two-year tree growth patterns investigated from monthly girth records using dendrometer bands in a wet evergreen forest in India. J Trop Ecol 16:429–446

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pianka ER (1970) On r- and K-selection. Am Nat 104:592–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pinheiro J, Bates D, DebRoy S, et al. (2016). nlme: Linear and Nonlinear Mixed Effects Models. R package version 3.1-124, http://CRAN.R-project.org/package=nlme>

  • Pivovaroff AL, Pasquini SC, De Guzman ME et al (2015) Multiple strategies for drought survival among woody plant species. Funct Ecol. doi:10.1111/1365-2435.12518

    Google Scholar 

  • Poorter L, McDonald I, Alarcón A et al (2010) The importance of wood traits and hydraulic conductance for the performance and life history strategies of 42 rainforest tree species. New Phytol 185:481–492

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Purkayastha SK (1999) A manual of Indian timbers. Sribhumi Publishing Co, Calcutta

    Google Scholar 

  • Queenborough SA, Porras C (2014) Expanding the coverage of plant trait databases: a comparison of specific leaf area derived from fresh and dried leaves. Pl Ecol Divers 7:383–388

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • R Core Team (2015). R: a language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. http://www.R-project.org/

  • Rani PBJ, Sathish BN, Mohana GS et al (2011) Field guide-trees of coffee agroforestry systems in Kodagu. College of Forestry, Ponnampet

    Google Scholar 

  • Rao KS, Rajput KS (1999) Seasonal behaviour of vascular cambium in Teak (Tectona grandis) growing in moist deciduous and dry deciduous forests. IAWA J 20:85–93

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Reich PB (2014) The world-wide ‘fast–slow’ plant economics spectrum: a traits manifesto. J Ecol 102:275–301

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rozendaal DMA, Zuidema PA (2011) Dendroecology in the tropics: a review. Trees 25:3–16

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schneider CA, Rasband WS, Eliceiri KW (2012) NIH Image to ImageJ: 25 years of image analysis. Nature Methods 9:671–675

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Schöngart J, Piedade MTF, Ludwigshausen S et al (2002) Phenology and stem-growth periodicity of tree species in Amazonian floodplain forests. J Trop Ecol 18:581–597

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schweingruber FH, Börner A, Schulze E-D (2007) Atlas of woody plant stems: evolution, structure, and environmental modifications. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

    Google Scholar 

  • Smith WK (1978) Temperatures of desert plants: another perspective on the adaptability of leaf size. Science 201:614–616

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sonsin JO, Gasson PE, Barros CF, Marcati CR (2012) A comparison of the wood anatomy of 11 species from two cerrado habitats (cerrado s.s. and adjacent gallery forest). Bot J Linn Soc 170:257–276

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stahle DW (1999) Useful strategies for the development of tropical tree ring chronologies. IAWA J 20:249–253

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • The Angiosperm Phylogeny Group (2009) An update of the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification for the orders and families of flowering plants: APG III. Bot J Linn Soc 161:105–121

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tomlinson PB, Longman KA (1981) Growth phenology of tropical trees in relation to cambial activity. In: Bormann FH, Berlyn G (eds) Age and growth rate of tropical trees: New dimensions for research. Yale University, New Haven, pp 7–19

    Google Scholar 

  • Venables WN, Ripley BD (2002) Modern applied statistics with S, 4th edn. Springer, New York

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Verheyden A, Kairo JG, Beeckman H, Koedam N (2004) Growth rings, growth ring formation and age determination in the mangrove, Rhizophora mucronata. Ann Bot 94:59–66

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Westoby M (1998) A leaf-height-seed (LHS) plant ecology strategy scheme. Pl Soil 199:213–227

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Wheeler EA, Baas P, Rodgers S (2007) Variations in dicot wood anatomy: a global analysis based on the Insidewood database. IAWA J 28:229–258

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worbes M (1989) Growth rings, increment and age of trees in inundation forests, savannas and a mountain forest in the Neotropics. IAWA Bull 10:109–122

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worbes M (1999) Annual growth rings, rainfall-dependent growth and long-term growth patterns of tropical trees from the Caparo Forest Reserve in Venezuela. J Ecol 87:391–403

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worbes M (2002) One hundred years of tree-ring research in the tropics—a brief history and an outlook to future challenges. Dendrochronologia 20:217–231

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Worbes M, Blanchart S, Fichtler E (2013) Relations between water balance, wood traits and phenological behavior of tree species from a tropical dry forest in Costa Rica: a multifactorial study. Tree Physiol 33:527–536

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Wright IJ, Falster DS, Pickup M, Westoby M (2006) Cross-species patterns in the coordination between leaf and stem traits, and their implications for plant hydraulics. Physiol Plant 127:445–456

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Zanne AE, Lopez-Gonzalez G, Coomes DA, et al. (2009) Data from: Towards a worldwide wood economics spectrum. Dryad Digital Repository. http://datadryad.org/handle/10255/dryad.235. Accessed 6 Aug 2015

Download references

Acknowledgments

Financial support of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (USR 3330), France, and from the Rufford Small Grants Foundation (UK) is acknowledged. We thank the private farmers and coffee plantation companies of Kodagu for providing permissions and logistical support for this project. We are grateful to N. Barathan for assistance with slide preparation and data entry, S. Aravajy for botanical assistance, S. Prasad and G. Orukaimoni for technical inputs, and A. Prathap, S. Shiva, B. Saravana, and P. Shiva for field assistance. The corresponding editor and three anonymous reviewers provided insightful comments that improved the manuscript.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. French Institute of Pondicherry, UMIFRE 21/USR 3330, CNRS-MAEE, 11 St. Louis Street, Pondicherry, 605001, India

    Cheryl D. Nath, François Munoz, Raphaël Pélissier & G. Muthusankar

  2. Université de Montpellier, UMR AMAP, TA A51/PS2, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    François Munoz

  3. IRD, UMR AMAP, TA A51/PS2, 34398, Montpellier Cedex 5, France

    Raphaël Pélissier

  4. School of Biological Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Cruickshank Building, St Machar Drive, Aberdeen, AB24 3UU, UK

    David F. R. P. Burslem

Authors
  1. Cheryl D. Nath
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. François Munoz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Raphaël Pélissier
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. David F. R. P. Burslem
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. G. Muthusankar
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Cheryl D. Nath.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Communicated by S. Leavitt.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 5 and 6.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Nath, C.D., Munoz, F., Pélissier, R. et al. Growth rings in tropical trees: role of functional traits, environment, and phylogeny. Trees 30, 2153–2175 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-016-1442-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-016-1442-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation