Title: Leaf functional traits of Neotropical savanna trees in relation to seasonal water deficit.
Author: Franco, A.C.; Bustamante, M.; Caldas, L.S.; Goldstein, G.; Meinzer, F.C.; Kozovits, A.R.; Rundel, P.; Coradin, Vera T.R.
Date: 2005
Source: Trees. 19: 326-335
Description: The seasonal savannas (cerrados) of Central Brazil are characterized by a large diversity of evergreen and deciduous trees, which do not show a clear differentiation in terms of active rooting depth. Irrespective of the depth of the root system, expansion of new foliage in deciduous species occurs at the end of the dry season. In this study, we examined a suite of leaf traits related to C assimilation, water and nutrients (N, P) in five deciduous and six evergreen trees that were among the dominant families of
cerrado vegetation. Maximum C02 assimilation on a mass basis (Amass) as significantly correlated with leaf N and P, and specific leaf area (SLA; leaf area per unit of leaf mass). The highest leaf concentrations of both nutrients were measured in the newly mature leaves of deciduous species at the end of the dry period. The differences in terms of leaf N and P between evergreen and deciduous species decreased during
the wet season. Deciduous species also invested less in the production of non-photosynthetic leaf tissues and produced leaves with higher SLA and maintained higher water use efficiency. Thus, deciduous species compensated for their shorter leaf payback period by maintaining higher potential
payback capacity (higher values of Amass) and lower leaf construction costs (higher SLA). Their short leafless period and the capacity to flush by the end of the dry season may also contribute to offset the longer payback period of evergreen species, although it may involve the higher cost of maintaining a deep-root system or a tight control of plant water balance in the shallow-rooted ones.
Keywords: carbon isotope discrimination, leaf level traits, photosynthesis, stable isotope ratios, water use efficiency
View and Print this Publication (1.0 MB)
Pristine Version: An uncaptured or "pristine" version of this publication is available. It has not been subjected to OCR (Optical Character Recognition) and therefore does not have any errors in the text. However it is a larger file size and some people may experience long download times. The "pristine" version of this publication is available here:
View and Print the PRISTINE copy of this Publication (1.2 MB)
Publication Notes:
- We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
- This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility
Citation
Franco, A.C.; Bustamante, M.; Caldas, L.S.; Goldstein, G.; Meinzer, F.C.; Kozovits, A.R.; Rundel, P.; Coradin, Vera T.R. 2005. Leaf functional traits of Neotropical savanna trees in relation to seasonal water deficit.. Trees. 19: 326-335