Nicho de regeneración, balance de carbono y limitaciones de la fotosíntesis a nivel de copa de rebrotes y plantas de eucryphia cordifolia Cav. creciendo en condiciones naturales y de cultivo.
Loading...
Date
2013
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Universidad de Concepción.
Abstract
Sprouting is a widespread trait of geographical, ecological and taxonomical scales that allows
resource exploitation, space colonization, vegetative reproduction and post-disturbance
persistence. It is considered that persistence is the most frequent functional role of sprouting in
woody plants. Here we propose that niche differentiation between sprouts and saplings extends
the regeneration niche to suboptimal conditions for sexual recruitment. To test this hypothesis,
we sampled root suckers (sprouts) and saplings of the long-lived tree species Eucryphia
cordifolia Cav. in an even-aged coastal temperate rain forest. Canopy openness was measured
over each recruit as a proxy of regeneration niche. Sapling survival was checked after two years.
The entire forest canopy openness range was used as an estimation of niche availability. Light
and microclimatic conditions were recorded for different canopy openness. Sprouts and saplings
occupied a narrow range of the canopy openness near to the closest extreme of the gradient (4.8-
14.1%). The distribution of saplings was explained by the lower survival of small saplings under
more open canopies, as a consequence of the interactive effect of higher evaporative demand and
radiation load in more opened canopies. Although the niches of sexual and vegetative recruits
slightly overlap (31% of the interquartile range on average), sprouts inhabit the more opened
sites. Therefore, sprouts extend the regeneration niche to suboptimal conditions for sapling
establishment. Our results contribute towards explaining the high colonization ability of E.
cordifolia in this kind of forest, whose composition is strongly driven by gap dynamics.
Description
Tesis para optar al grado de Magíster en Ciencias mención Botánica.
Keywords
Árboles - Estudio de Casos - Chile, Propagación Vegetativa, Árboles - Crecimiento, Árboles - Cultivos, Árboles - Preservación