Twig size-number trade-off among woody plants in Tiantong region, Zhejiang Province of China

doi:10.3724/SP.J.1258.2012.01268

Abstract

Abstract:

Aims The branch size-number trade-off among woody plants has implications for both the formation of plant architecture and biomass allocation in response to environment stresses. Our objective was to examine how the twig size-number relationship varies among woody plants in subtropical broad-leaved evergreen forests in southeastern China.Methods The study site is located in Tiantong National Forest Park (29°52′ N, 121°39′ E), Zhejiang Province, in Eastern China. We measured twig length, twig diameter, number of twigs and length and diameter of branches from which the twigs were sampled for 76 woody species in a 1-hm ^-2 plot. Standardized major axis (SMA) analysis was conducted to examine the quantitative relationship between twig size (cross-sectional area) and the number of twigs at a given twig size (twig intensity). Important findings A significantly negative allometric scaling relationship was found between twig intensity and its cross-sectional area. Under level-II light exposure (LE-II, 40%-80% of the plant under direct light), evergreen species had a much higher twig intensity than deciduous species. However, there was no difference in twig intensity between these two life forms under LE-I (<40% exposure) or LE-III (>80% exposure). Higher twig intensity was found in evergreen species under LI-III than under both LE-I and LE-II. In contrast, twig intensity of deciduous species was not different among any of the light exposure levels. Shrubs <4 m height had higher twig intensity than sub-trees and trees >4 m at a given twig size. We conclude that the twig size-number trade-off across woody plants in Tiantong was consistent with the Corner’s rule (that describes the relationship between twig size and the number of twigs), but might differ among different life forms. Both evergreen species and shrubs are inclined to develop higher twig intensity, which indicates their adaptation to environment stress caused by limitations in light availability.

Key words: allometry, Corner rule, evergreen broad-leaved forest, exposure, life form

XU Yue, YANG Xiao-Dong, XIE Yi-Ming, XU Yi-Lu, Scott X CHANG, YAN En-Rong. Twig size-number trade-off among woody plants in Tiantong region, Zhejiang Province of China[J]. Chin J Plant Ecol, 2012, 36(12): 1268-1276.

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URL: https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/10.3724/SP.J.1258.2012.01268

https://www.plant-ecology.com/EN/Y2012/V36/I12/1268

Figures/Tables 6

Fig. 1 Regression relationship between twig intensity and twig cross-sectional area across species (n = 76). ***, P < 0.001.

Table 1 Results of two-way ANOVA of life form and light exposure for plant twig “size-number”

因子 Factor	自由度 df	小枝稠密度 Twig intensity		小枝大小 Twig size
		F	p	F	p
生活型 Life form	1	7.87	< 0.010	71.96	< 0.001
曝光度 Light exposure	2	11.90	< 0.001	47.43	< 0.001
生活型×曝光度 Life form × light exposure	2	0.08	> 0.050	3.27	< 0.050

Fig. 2 Regression relationship between twig intensity and twig cross-sectional area for evergreen and deciduous species at the same level of light exposure. A, Level-I light exposure. B, Level-II light exposure. C, Level-III light exposure. *, p < 0.05; ***, p < 0.001.

Fig. 3 Regression relationship between twig intensity and twig cross-sectional area for each of evergreen (A) and deciduous (B) species at different level of light exposure. LE-I, LE-II and LE-III are three levels of light exposure. ***, p < 0.001.

Table 2 Results of two-way ANOVA of growth form and light exposure for plant twig “size-number”

因子 Factor	自由度 df	小枝稠密度 Twig intensity		小枝大小 Twig size
		F	p	F	p
生长型 Growth form	1	52.23	< 0.001	270.50	< 0.001
曝光度 Light exposure	2	1.89	> 0.050	8.81	> 0.050
生长型×曝光度 Growth form × light exposure	2	0.72	> 0.050	8.72	> 0.050

Fig. 4 Regression relationship between twig intensity and twig cross-sectional area for plants living in shrub and tree layers. H1, H2 and H3 represent shrub, sub-tree and tree layer, respectively. ***, p < 0.001.

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