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SHORT COMMUNICATION Inferring growth rates from leaf display in tropical forest saplings

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 April 2004

David A. King
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA 22903-2477, USA
David B. Clark
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, University of Missouri-St. Louis, 8001 Natural Bridge Road, St Louis, MO 63121-4499, USA

Abstract

In temperate trees, the extension growth history of stems and branches is easily inferred from the positions of the rings of over-wintering bud-scale scars, allowing one to assess environmental responses from surveys of saplings (Beaudet & Messier 1998, Canham 1988, King 2001). But tropical trees rarely show such distinct demarcations of growth flushes. Furthermore, the frequency of flushing may vary with tree size and environment, and a number of tropical species, often light demanding, show continuous leaf production and extension growth throughout the year (Coley 1983).

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
2004 Cambridge University Press

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