Abstract
The hypothesis of the present study is that not only distributions of leaf photosynthetic traits and shoot growth along light gradient within a canopy of forest trees, but also that of leaf anti-herbivory defence capacities are influenced by soil nutrient condition. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the distributions of photosynthetic traits, shoot growth, anti-herbivory defence and leaf herbivory rate throughout the canopy of Quercus serrata grown in two sites with different soil nutrient conditions. In both sites, photosynthetic traits, shoot growth, and anti-herbivory defence were greater in the upper canopy. The overall defence and herbivory rate in the lower nutrient condition were higher and lower than those in the higher nutrient condition, respectively. Although differences in leaf traits between upper and lower canopies in the higher nutrient condition were smaller than those in the lower nutrient condition, no difference was found for anti-herbivory defence. These results suggest that soil nutrient condition does not affect the distributions of leaf anti herbivory defence along light gradient within a canopy of Q. serrata.
Highlights
The hypothesis of the present study is that distributions of leaf photosynthetic traits and shoot growth along light gradient within a canopy of forest trees, and that of leaf anti-herbivory defence capacities are influenced by soil nutrient condition
Sun leaves in upper canopy have higher leaf mass per area (LMA) and nitrogen allocation to Calvin cycle enzymes, while shade leaves in lower canopy have lower LMA and higher chlorophyll content to minimize light limitation of photosynthesis[1,5,6]
We investigated the distributions of these leaf traits and herbivory rate in leaves within the canopy of mature Quercus serrata trees grown under different soil nutrient conditions
Summary
The hypothesis of the present study is that distributions of leaf photosynthetic traits and shoot growth along light gradient within a canopy of forest trees, and that of leaf anti-herbivory defence capacities are influenced by soil nutrient condition. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the distributions of photosynthetic traits, shoot growth, anti-herbivory defence and leaf herbivory rate throughout the canopy of Quercus serrata grown in two sites with different soil nutrient conditions. The hypothesis of the present study is that distributions of leaf photosynthetic traits and shoot growth along light gradient within a canopy, and that of leaf traits on anti-herbivory defence capacity are Scientific Reports | (2021) 11:14485
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