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Light capture efficiency decreases with increasing tree age and size in the southern hemisphere gymnosperm Agathis australis

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Abstract

We investigated leaf and shoot architecture in relation to growth irradiance (Qint) in young and mature trees of a New Zealand native gymnosperm Agathis australis (D. Don) Lindl. to determine tree size-dependent and age-dependent controls on light interception efficiency. A binomial 3-D turbid medium model was constructed to distinguish between differences in shoot light interception efficiency due to variations in leaf area density, angular distribution and leaf aggregation. Because of the positive effect of light on leaf dry mass per area (MA), nitrogen content per area (NA) increased with increasing irradiance in both young and mature trees. At a common irradiance, NA, MA and the components of MA, density and thickness, were larger in mature trees, indicating a greater accumulation of photosynthetic biomass per unit area, but also a larger fraction of support biomass in older trees. In both young and mature trees, shoot inclination angle relative to horizontal, and leaf number per unit stem length decreased, and silhouette to total leaf area ratio (SS) increased with decreasing irradiance, demonstrating more efficient light harvesting in low light. The shoots of young trees were more horizontal and less densely leafed with a larger SS than those of mature trees, signifying greater light interception efficiency in young plants. Superior light harvesting in young trees resulted from more planar leaf arrangement and less clumped foliage. These results suggest that the age-dependent and/or size-dependent decreases in stand productivity may partly result from reduced light interception efficiency in larger mature relative to smaller and younger plants.

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Acknowledgements

Ü.N. was an Erskine fellow of the University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand during these experiments. We thank Dr. Rochelle Christian, Gavin Tisch and Maggie Tisch for helping us with data collection and analysis, and the Estonian Science Foundation (grant 5702), the Estonian Ministry of Education and Science (grant 0182468As03), the German Academic Exchange Service (equipment grant to Ü.N.), and the Province of Trento, Italy (grants DL1060 and DL3402) for providing additional funding for this work.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Physiology, University of Tartu, Riia 23, Tartu, 51010, Estonia

    Ülo Niinemets

  2. Centro di Ecologia Alpina, I-38040 Viote del Monte Bondone, Trento, Italy

    Ülo Niinemets & Alessandro Cescatti

  3. Department of Plant and Microbial Sciences, University of Canterbury, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, 8020, New Zealand

    Ashley Sparrow

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  1. Ülo Niinemets
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  2. Ashley Sparrow
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  3. Alessandro Cescatti
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Correspondence to Ülo Niinemets.

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Niinemets, Ü., Sparrow, A. & Cescatti, A. Light capture efficiency decreases with increasing tree age and size in the southern hemisphere gymnosperm Agathis australis. Trees 19, 177–190 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-004-0379-y

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