Winter Leaf Conductance Rates of Pinus Strobus L. (Eastern White Pine)

Abstract

Our knowledge of winter leaf conductance and transpiration rates during the winter and early spring is especially weak for Pinus strobus L. (eastern white pine). Hence, the present study was conducted to: (1) measure and examine the winter leaf conductance and transpiration rates among 10 P. strobus trees to supply preliminary data for an understudied tree species; and (2) investigate whether observed leaf conductance and transpiration rates are large enough to merit incorporation into existing water balance models. The fieldwork was conducted at the Fair Hill Natural Resources Management Area in northeastern Maryland (39°42'N, 75°50'W) using a Li-Cor 1600M Steady State Porometer. Meteorological data were acquired from a continuously recording meteorological station on-site. Meteorological data were recorded at five-minute intervals to ensure that weather conditions could be temporally sequenced with porometer readings. The 10 co-occurring P. strobus sample trees were of similar age and health on uniform soils in an open field. Winter and early spring leaf conductance values of the selected trees reached 20 mmol m-2 s-1, whereas transpiration reached 0.13 mmol m-2 s-1. Results of the study indicate that there is statistically significant differences in leaf conductance rates among co-occurring P. strobus trees (H = 16.74, p = .05). Since the upper winter leaf conductance and transpiration rates measured in this study overlap with growing season leaf conductance and transpiration values reported by others, it is suggested that winter leaf conductance of and transpiration from P. strobus trees are significant enough to incorporate into water balance calculations.