Patterns in Size-Related Variations in Current-Year Shoot Structure in Eight Deciduous Tree Species

Abstract

) and leaf display index (LDI: the ratio of leaf area to stem length) of current-year shoots are compared for eight deciduous tree species. Two patterns were found in the relationships. In seven species (Acer mono, Aesculus turbinata, Betula grossa, Carpinus tschonoskii, Fagus crenata, Pterocarya rhoifolia, and Quercus mongolica var. grosseserrata), LDI decreased exponentially with SL, which suggests that short current-year shoots favor leaf-display over space-acquisition, and the reverse for long current-year shoots. The decrease in LDI was much greater and sharper in B. grossa, which shows apparent differentiation of short and long shoots, than in the other six species, which do not show such differentiation. In another species that shows no differentiation of short and long shoots, Clerodendron trichotomum, LDI increased linearly and gradually with SL. This suggests that its long current-year shoots are superior to its short current-year shoots for both space-acquisition and leaf-display, and that the structural variation in its current-year shoots is small. The diverse patterns in the relationships between SL and LDI of current-year shoots are related to the variations among current-year shoots in the mean leaf number per unit stem length and the mean individual leaf area.