Net Assimilation Rate Determines the Growth Rates of 14 Species of Subtropical Forest Trees

Growth rates are of fundamental importance for plants, as individual size affects myriad ecological processes. We determined the factors that generate variation in RGR among 14 species of trees and shrubs that are abundant in subtropical Chinese forests. We grew seedlings for two years at four light...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2016-03, Vol.11 (3), p.e0150644-e0150644
Main Authors: Li, Xuefei, Schmid, Bernhard, Wang, Fei, Paine, C E Timothy
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Analysis
Assimilation
Biological assimilation
Biology and Life Sciences
Biomass
Ecology
Ecology and Environmental Sciences
Environmental studies
Evolutionary biology
Flowers & plants
Forests
Gas exchange
Growth
Growth models
Growth rate
Influence
Leaf area
Leaves
Light
Light levels
Mathematical analysis
Morphology
Nitrogen
Nitrogen content
Photosynthesis
Physiology
Plant growth
Quantitative Trait, Heritable
Research and Analysis Methods
Respiration
Seedlings
Shrubs
Species
Studies
Trajectory analysis
Trees
Trees - growth & development
Tropical Climate
Tropical forests
Variation
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Growth rates are of fundamental importance for plants, as individual size affects myriad ecological processes. We determined the factors that generate variation in RGR among 14 species of trees and shrubs that are abundant in subtropical Chinese forests. We grew seedlings for two years at four light levels in a shade-house experiment. We monitored the growth of every juvenile plant every two weeks. After one and two years, we destructively harvested individuals and measured their functional traits and gas-exchange rates. After calculating individual biomass trajectories, we estimated relative growth rates using nonlinear growth functions. We decomposed the variance in log(RGR) to evaluate the relationships of RGR with its components: specific leaf area (SLA), net assimilation rate (NAR) and leaf mass ratio (LMR). We found that variation in NAR was the primary determinant of variation in RGR at all light levels, whereas SLA and LMR made smaller contributions. Furthermore, NAR was strongly and positively associated with area-based photosynthetic rate and leaf nitrogen content. Photosynthetic rate and leaf nitrogen concentration can, therefore, be good predictors of growth in woody species.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0150644