Needle longevity of Scots pine in relation to foliar nitrogen content, specific leaf area, and shoot growth in different forest types
2002
Pensa, M. | Sellin, A.
The aim of the study was to examine whether the variation in needle longevity of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) is of a community-specific nature. Altogether 300 trees were examined in Vaccinium, dry heath, and pine bog forests in Estonia. Mean number of needle age-classes was 4.1 for all forest types, while mean survivorship of needles averaged 70% in Vaccinium forests and 80% in the others (p < 0.01). Mean mass-based nitrogen content (N(m)) of the needles was the highest in Vaccinium forests (11.8 mg(.)g-1, p < 0.05) and lower in dry heath (10.4 mg(.)g-1) and pine bog (9.8 mg(.)g-1) forests. Specific leaf area (SLA) did not differ between Vaccinium (6.3 mm2(.)mg-1) and dry heath (6.0 mm2(.)mg-1) forests but was lower in pine bog forests (5.5 mm2(.)mg-1, p < 0.05). Shoot length increment was the smallest in pine bog forests (45.1 mm(.)year-1, p < 0.05) and did not differ between Vaccinium (92.2 mm(.)year-1) and dry heath (95.2 mm(.)year-1) forests. Our findings confirm that the small-scale variation in needle longevity of Scots pine has a community-specific pattern and is in accordance with the trends in N(m) and SLA.
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