Climatic effects on annual net carbon gain, stem biomass and annual transpiration were simulated for Pinus radiata D. Don at Canberra and Mt. Gambier. Simulations were conducted with an existing process-based forest growth model (BIOMASS, Model 1) and with a modified version of the BIOMASS model (Model 2) in which response functions for carbon assimilation and leaf conductance were replaced wit...

Intensive vegetation management alters seedling growth and development in southcm pine plantations. Adequate light, moisture. and nutrients stimulate seedling stem growth and crown development. Thus rapid stem growth could deplete nutrient and energy resources required for aggressive rcot growth. Early root system expansion within the available rooting zone is critical because structural root g...

Release from specialist insect herbivores may allow invasive plants to evolve traits associated with decreased resistance and increased competitive ability. Given that there may be genetic trade-off between resistance and tolerance, invasive plants could also become more tolerant to herbivores. Although it is widely acknowledged that light availability affects tolerance to herbivores, little in...

In frequently burned ecosystems, many plants persist by repeated resprouting from basal or belowground buds. This strategy requires that plants reach a balance between biomass loss and recovery, which depends on the shape of the relationship between pre- and post-fire size. Previous analyses of this relationship, however, have focused on the size of the largest stem, which ignores the importanc...

Fleshy fruit is consumed by many wildlife species and is a critical component of forest ecosystems. Because fruit production may change quickly during forest succession, frequent monitoring of fruit biomass may be needed to better understand shifts in wildlife habitat quality. Yet, designing a fruit sampling protocol that is executable on a frequent basis may be difficult, and knowledge of accu...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Species and hybrids of the genus Miscanthus contain attributes that make them front-runners among current selections of dedicated bioenergy crops. A key trait for plant biomass conversion to biofuels and biomaterials is cell-wall quality; however, knowledge of cell-wall composition and biology in Miscanthus species is limited. This study presents data on cell-wall compositio...

Differing biomass allocation strategy could be a necessary plant-trait associated with invasive weeds in an alien environment. The present study focused on exploring differential biomass allocation pattern as an invasive plant-trait in the two pantropical invasive malvaceous weeds Sida acuta Burm f. and Sida cordifolia L. in an anthropic peri-urban vegetation in Indian dry tropics. Eighty plant...

Characterization of boreal forests in ecosystem models requires temporal and spatial distributions of water content and biomass over local and regional scales. In this paper, we report on the use of a semi-empirical algorithm for deriving these parameters from polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) measurements. The algorithm is based on a two layer radar backscatter model that stratifies ...

Trees have assumed special importance after it was realized that trees could help reduce the emission of atmospheric carbon by trapping it in various pools of carbon viz. above ground biomass, below ground biomass, soil, litter and dead wood. Carbon sequestration through biomass seems to be a cheap and viable option to mitigate the increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases. The study attemp...