Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2003 Sep;92(3):339-47.
doi: 10.1093/aob/mcg144. Epub 2003 Jul 9.

Size structure of current-year shoots in mature crowns

Maki Suzuki  1
Affiliations

Size structure of current-year shoots in mature crowns

Maki Suzuki. Ann Bot. 2003 Sep.

Abstract

Characteristics of current-year shoot populations were examined for three mature trees of each of three deciduous broad-leaved species. For first-order branches (branches emerging from the vertical trunk) of the trees examined, lengths or diameters of all current-year shoots were measured. Total leaf mass and total current-year stem mass of first-order branches were estimated using an allometric relationship between leaf or stem mass and length or diameter of current-year stems. For each tree, the number of current-year shoots on a first-order branch was proportional to the basal stem cross-sectional area of the branch. On the other hand, first-order branches had shoot populations with size structures similar to each other. As a result, the leaf mass of a first-order branch was proportional to the basal stem cross-sectional area of the branch, being compatible with the pipe-model relationship. All current-year shoot populations had positively skewed size structures. Because small shoots have a larger ratio of leaf mass to stem mass than large shoots, first-order branches had an extremely large ratio of leaf mass to current-year stem mass. This biased mass allocation will reduce costs for current stem production, respiration and future radial growth, and is beneficial to mature trees with a huge accumulation of non- photosynthetic organs. The allometric relationships between leaf mass and basal stem diameter and that between leaf mass and current-year stem mass of first-order branches were each similar across the trees examined. Characteristics of shoot populations tended to offset inter-species diversity of shoot allometry so that branch allometry shows inter-species convergence.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

None
Fig. 1. Morphology and phyllotaxy of current-year shoots. A, Betula maximowicziana (long shoot); B, B. maximowicziana (short shoot); C, Acer mono var. mayrii; D, A. mono var. mayrii (unshaded leaves are expanded by lammas elongation); E, Quercus crispula.
None
Fig. 2. Allometric relationships between the shoot number on a first-order branch, N, and the basal diameter of the branch, D (cm), for B. maximowicziana (open squares), A. mono (open circles) and Q. crispula (closed squares).
None
Fig. 3. Frequency distributions for length of current-year shoots on first-order branches of Q. crispula. D shows the stem basal diameter of first-order branches.
None
Fig. 4. Frequency distributions for length of all current-year shoots on first-order branches of B. maximowicziana. D shows the stem basal diameter of first-order branches.
None
Fig. 5. Frequency distributions for length of current-year long shoot (upper row) and for stem diameter of short shoot (lower row) on first-order branches of B. maximowicziana. D shows the stem basal diameter of first-order branches.
None
Fig. 6. Frequency distributions for length of current-year shoots on first-order branches of A. mono. D shows the stem basal diameter of first-order branches.
None
Fig. 7. The relationship between mean (L̄0 or D̄0, solid symbols) or CV (open symbols) of current-year shoot size and basal diameter of first-order branches. For B. maximowicziana, circles show mean and CV of the length of the long shoots and squares show those of the diameter of the short shoots.
None
Fig. 8. Cumulative relative leaf mass per total leaf mass is plotted against cumulative relative mass per total mass from the smallest shoot to the largest shoot. Each dashed line represents one first-order branch.
None
Fig. 9. Relationship between estimated leaf mass (F) and current-year stem mass (ΣC0) of first-order branches for B. maximowicziana (open squares), A. mono (open circles) and Q. crispula (closed squares).
None
Fig. 10. Relationship between estimated leaf mass (F) and basal diameter (D) of first-order branches for B. maximowicziana (open squares), A. mono (open circles) and Q. crispula (closed squares).
None
Fig. 11. Relationship between mean leaf mass per current-year shoot of each first-order branch (F̄0) and basal stem diameter (D) of the branch for B. maximowicziana (open squares), A. mono (open circles) and Q. crispula (closed squares).
None
Fig. 12. Relationship between leaf mass (F0) and stem mass (C0) of current-year shoots for B. maximowicziana (open squares), A. mono (open circles) and Q. crispula (closed squares). Only sub-samples randomly chosen from original samples are drawn. Least-square regression lines for all shoot samples are also shown.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. AddicottFT.1991. Abscission: shedding of parts. In: Raghavendra AS. ed. Physiology of trees New York: Wiley Interscience, 273–300.
    1. BaskervilleGL.1971. Use of logarithmic regression in the estimation of plant biomass. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 2: 49–53.
    1. BerningerF, Nikinmaa E.1994. Foliage area–sapwood area relationships of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) trees in different climates. Canadian Journal of Forest Research 24: 2263–2268.
    1. Buck-SorlinGH, Bell AD.1998. A quantification of shoot shedding in pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.). Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society 127: 371–391.
    1. CannellMGR.1974. Production of branches and foliage by young trees of Pinus contorta and Picea sitchensis: provenance differences and their simulation. Journal of Applied Ecology 15: 1091–1115.

MeSH terms