King1994

Report for study: King1994

Contact Information

Data contributor: David King

Email: [email protected]

Address:

• Forest Ecosystems and Society, Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA

Data source

Citation: King DA (1994). 'Influence of light level on the growth and morphology of saplings in a Panamanian forest.' American Journal of Botany, 81(8), pp. 948-957.

DOI:

Abstract: Leaf spacing and aboveground growth were monitored in saplings of ten species in a range of light environments in a Panamanian lowland humid forest. One- to 2-m-tall individuals of the chosen species had intermediate to large leaves on stems with few or no branches. Saplings in high light environments grew faster in height and produced more biomass per unit leaf area than shaded saplings for all species. These growth responses involved morphological plasticity with greater extension per unit biomass increment increasing the height growth rate of gap-grown saplings and greater biomass allocation to leaves decreasing the whole plant light compensation point in shade. The relative performance of the species also varied across the light gradient and was related to differences in leaf lifespan and specific leaf mass. Light-demanding species grew as rapidly in shade as shade-tolerant species, but the shorter leaf lifespan of the former necessitates higher production rates to maintain a given leaf area, largely excluding light-demanders from shaded understory locations. Height growth rate was positively correlated with leaf spacing for each species, and differences between species in the height growth rate-internode length relationship were related to interspecific differences in specific leaf mass. Thus, sapling growth histories may be inferred from their morphologies.

Overview of data provided

The dataset includes records for 124 individuals from 9 species belonging to 8 family(ies), presenting 1 functional type(s), growing in 1 condition(s) within 1 major type(s) of habitat, with data included for the following variables:

Variable	Label	Units	N	Min	Median	Max
latitude	Latitude	deg	124	9.2	9.2	9.2
longitude	Longitude	deg	124	-80	-80	-80
a.lf	Leaf area	m2	124	0.073	0.3	1.8
h.t	Height	m	124	0.74	1.3	2.4
h.bh	Height of d.bh measurement	m	124	0.074	0.13	0.24
m.lf	Leaf mass	kg	124	0.0018	0.017	0.083
m.st	Total stem mass	kg	124	0.0035	0.038	0.28
m.so	Aboveground mass	kg	124	0.0068	0.052	0.34
a.ilf	Area of individual leaf	m2	120	0.0052	0.026	0.12

And locally within the country:

The sites sampled are:

Location	Longitude	Latitude	Vegetation
Barro Colorado Island, Panama	-79.85	9.15	Tropical rainforest

The growing conditions of sampled plants was:

Location	growingCondition
Barro Colorado Island, Panama	field wild

Species sampled

Species	Family	Pft
Trichilia tuberculata	Meliaceae	evergreen angiosperm
Tachigali versicolor	Fabaceae	evergreen angiosperm
Protium panamense	Burseraceae	evergreen angiosperm
Herrania purpurea	Sterculaceae	evergreen angiosperm
Calophyllum longifolium	Clusiaceae	evergreen angiosperm
Alseis blackiana	Rubiaceae	evergreen angiosperm
Miconia argentea	Melastomataceae	evergreen angiosperm
Palicourea guianensis	Rubiaceae	evergreen angiosperm
Cecropia insignis	Cecropiaceae	evergreen angiosperm

Methods used

Sampling strategy:

Leaf area: Leaf bade length x width (spanning pinnae of compound leaves) multiplied by species specific conversion factors (near to 2/3 for most simple leaved species). 1.42 cm diameter discs punched from mature leaves (avoiding major veins) were used for determination of leaf mass per area.

Stem cross sectional area: Measured at 4 or 5 non-standardized regularly spaced heights at smooth sections of the stem. Caliper-measured diameters in two perpendicular directions x pi/4 yields the areas, which were used only to calculate stem volumes.

Height: Height from stem base to highest stem tip, usually that of the central stem.

Crown area: Width in two perpendicular directions x pi/4

Biomass: Estimated from plant part dimensional measurements to get volume (stem, and branches if present), or leaf area, which were in turn multiplied by species-specific measurements of stem density or leaf mass per unt area, respectively.

Growth environment: Understory or gaps in tropical forests

Year collected: 1990-1991

Plots of data

This is how the study King1994 fits in the entire dataset (grey). each colour represents a species. A legend of species names with colours is included at the end for reports with 1 < n < 20 species.