We established linear and exponential relationships between leaf area (A) and leaf length (L), leaf width (W), W(2), L(2) and LW, in Salix viminalis L. Most relationships were significantly nonlinear, but good fits were obtained with both linear and exponential models. The nonlinear relationship between A and LW differed for leaves from sylleptic and proleptic shoots. Leaves from sylleptic and ...

Interspecific relationships among species mean leaf traits, performance and species resource/climate distributions help provide the foundation for a predictive, functionally based plant ecology. Intraspecific responses of leaf traits and performance to resource gradients and how these vary among species may be equally important but have received less attention. Here, we examine relationships be...

Plant light interception and shade tolerance are intrinsically related in that they involve structural, morphological and physiological adaptations to manage light capture for photosynthetic utilization, in order to sustain survival, development and reproduction. At the scale of small-size trees, crown traits related to structural geometry of branching pattern and space occupancy through phyllo...

The use of plant functional traits has become increasingly popular in ecological studies because plant functional traits help to understand key ecological processes in plant species and communities. This also includes changes in diversity, inter- and intraspecific interactions, and relationships of species at different spatiotemporal scales. Leaf traits are among the most important traits as th...

This study compared leaf gas exchange, leaf hydraulic conductance, twig hydraulic conductivity and leaf osmotic potential at full turgor between two drought-deciduous trees, Vitex peduncularis Wall. and Xylia xylocarpa (Roxb.) W. Theob., and two evergreen trees, Hopea ferrea Lanessan and Syzygium cumini (L.) Skeels, at the uppermost canopies in tropical dry forests in Thailand. The aims were to...

Patterns of trait variation may be adaptive when vary in relation to an environmental gradient. In particular, leaf traits can affect productivity and competitive ability. We identify patterns of leaf size and shape variation with environmental heterogeneity in one of the most widespread tree species within temperate South America: Embothrium coccineum (Proteaceae). We collected leaf specimens ...

Factors that contribute to the accuracy of estimating woody canopy's leaf area density (LAD) using 3D portable lidar imaging were investigated. The 3D point cloud data for a Japanese zelkova canopy [Zelkova serrata (Thunberg) Makino] were collected using a portable scanning lidar from several points established on the ground and at 10 m above the ground. The LAD profiles were computed using vox...

Lianas differ from trees in many life history characteristics, and we predicted that they are phenotypically more responsive to environmental variation than trees. We analyzed responsiveness to light and nutrient availability of five Bauhinia species (three lianas and two trees). Seedlings were grown in a shade house in two light regimes (5 and 25% of full sunlight) and two nutrient supply regi...

This study was undertaken to identify morphological changes in young seedlings of 5 Iranian almond species (Prunus dulcis, P. eburnea, P. eleagnifolia, P. haussknechti, and P. scoparia) under polyethylene glycol-induced drought stress. Drought stress caused a significant reduction in plant growth parameters such as fresh and dry weights of plant organs, leaf number, total leaf area, and leaf re...

We introduce the simultaneous optimisation of water-use effi ciency and nitrogen-use effi ciency of canopy photosynthesis. As a vehicle for this idea we consider the optimal leaf area for a plant in which there is no self-shading among leaves. An emergent result is that canopy assimilation over a day is a scaled sum of daily water use and of photosynthetic nitrogen display. The respective scali...