Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2022, Vol. 46 ›› Issue (6): 687-699.DOI: 10.17521/cjpe.2022.0045

Special Issue: 植物功能性状

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Variations and correlations of lamina and petiole traits of three broadleaved species in a broadleaved Korean pine forest

LI Lu, JIN Guang-Ze, LIU Zhi-Li()   

  1. Center for Ecological Research, Key Laboratory of Sustainable Forest Ecosystem Management-Ministry of Education, Northeast Asia Biodiversity Research Center, Northeast Forestry University, Harbin 150040, China
  • Received:2022-01-27 Accepted:2022-03-29 Online:2022-06-20 Published:2022-04-08
  • Contact: LIU Zhi-Li
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China(31971636);National Natural Science Foundation of China(32071533);Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities(2572022DS13)

Abstract:

Aims The lamina and petiole of a leaf are closely related in structure and function, of which the variation and correlation are important for understanding the strategies of biomass allocation at the leaf level.

Methods In this study, we sampled Betula platyphylla, Tilia amurensisand Acer pictum subsp. mono in a broadleaved Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis) forest in Northeast China and explored effects of species, tree size and canopy position on variations in and correlations between lamina and petiole traits. For each species, we selected 10 trees for small (diameter at breast height (DBH): 1-6 cm), intermediate (DBH: 15-20 cm), and large sizes (DBH: 35-45 cm), respectively. For the large-sized trees, we took canopy position into account. We measured lamina area (LA), lamina dry mass (LDM), petiole length (PL), and petiole dry mass (PDM).

Important findings (1) The four traits significantly varied with species and tree size. PL and PDM of the small trees were significantly lower than those of large trees for the three species. LDM of the small trees was significantly less than that of the large trees for T. amurensis and A. pictum subsp. mono, while LA of the small trees was significantly greater than that of the large trees for B. platyphyllaand T. amurensis. For the large trees, the effect of canopy position on the variations in the four traits was species-depended. (2) There was a significant allometric scaling relationship between the lamina and petiole traits for all the three species. The regression slopes ranked as T. amurensis > B. platyphylla> A. pictum subsp. mono; the slopes for B. platyphyllaranked as small size > large size > intermediate size, while the slopes for the large-sized trees were the greatest among different tree sizes for T. amurensisand A. pictum subsp. mono. Canopy position had no significant effect on the regression slope for the large-sized trees. These results showed that species and tree size significantly influenced the variations in and correlations between the lamina and petiole traits for the three temperate tree species, while canopy position had little effect for the large-sized trees.

Key words: lamina trait, petiole trait, tree size, canopy position, allometric scaling