Loading…
The relative weight of ontogeny, topology and climate in the architectural development of three North American conifers
Abstract Knowledge of plant architecture allows retrospective study of plant development, hence provides powerful tools, through modelling and simulation, to link this development with environmental constraints, and then predict its response to global change. The present study aims to determine some...
Saved in:
Published in: | AoB plants 2018-08, Vol.10 (4), p.ply045-ply045 |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , , , , , , , |
Format: | Article |
Language: | English |
Subjects: | |
Citations: | Items that this one cites Items that cite this one |
Online Access: | Get full text |
Tags: |
Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
|
Summary: | Abstract
Knowledge of plant architecture allows retrospective study of plant development, hence provides powerful tools, through modelling and simulation, to link this development with environmental constraints, and then predict its response to global change. The present study aims to determine some of the main endogenous and exogenous variables driving the architectural development of three North American conifers. We measured architectural traits retrospectively on the trunk, branches and twigs of whole tree crowns for each species: annual shoot length (ASL), needle length, branching patterns and reproduction organs (male and female). We fitted a partial least square (PLS) regression to explain each architectural trait with respect to topological, ontogenic and climatic variables. Results showed a significant weight of these three groups of variables for previous and current year, corresponding, respectively, to organogenesis and elongation. Topological and ontogenic variables had the greatest weight in models. Particularly, all architectural traits were strongly correlated with ASL. We highlighted a negative architectural response of two species to higher than average temperatures, whereas the third one took advantage of these higher temperatures to some degree. Tree architectural development weekly but significantly improved with higher precipitation. Our study underlines the strong weight of topology and ontogeny in tree growth patterns at twig and branch scales. The correlation between ASL and other tree architectural traits should be integrated into architectural development models. Climate variables are secondary in importance at the twig scale. However, interannual climate variations influence all axis categories and branching orders and therefore significantly impact crown development as a whole. This latter impact may increase with climate change, especially as climate affects architectural traits over at least 2 years, through organogenesis and elongation.
This study proposes an original insight into tree architectural development, by combining in a simultaneous analysis three sets of explanatory variables: ontogenic, topological and climatic factors. It targets three common North American conifers (Picea mariana; Pinus banksiana; Pinus strobus), the detailed architecture of which is poorly known. Thus it brings new knowledge about these species and their response to environmental constraints. Our results may help improve the assessment of the |
---|---|
ISSN: | 2041-2851 2041-2851 |
DOI: | 10.1093/aobpla/ply045 |