Leaf traits determine the growth-survival trade-off across rain forest tree species.

A dominant hypothesis explaining tree species coexistence in tropical forest is that trade-offs in characters allow species to adapt to different light environments, but tests for this hypothesis are scarce. This study is the first that uses a theoretical plant growth model to link leaf trade-offs to whole-plant performances and to differential performances across species in different light environments. Using data of 50 sympatric tree species from a Bolivian rain forest, we observed that specific leaf area and photosynthetic capacity codetermined interspecific height growth variation in a forest gap; that leaf survival rate determined the variation in plant survival rate under a closed canopy; that predicted height growth and plant survival rate matched field observations; and that fast-growing species had low survival rates for both field and predicted values. These results show how leaf trade-offs influence differential tree performance and tree species' coexistence in a heterogeneous light environment.

Performance of trees in forest canopies: explorations with a bottom-up functional-structural plant growth model.

Here we present a functional-structural plant model that integrates the growth of metamers into a growing, three-dimensional tree structure, and study the effects of different constraints and strategies on tree performance in different canopies. The tree is a three-dimensional system of connected metamers, and growth is defined by the flush probability of metamers. Tree growth was simulated for different canopy light environments. The result suggest that: the constraints result in an exponential, logistic and decay phase; a mono-layered-leaf crown results from self-shading in a closed canopy; a strong apical control results in slender trees like tall stature species; the interaction between weak apical control and light response results in a crown architecture and performance known from short stature species in closed forest; correlated leaf traits explain interspecific differences in growth, survival and adult stature. The model successfully unravels the interaction effects of different constraints and strategies on tree growth in different canopy light environments.

Patterns of light and nitrogen distribution in relation to whole canopy carbon gain in C3 and C4 mono- and dicotyledonous species.

An analytical model was used to describe the optimal nitrogen distribution. From this model, it was hypothesized that the non-uniformity of the nitrogen distribution increases with the canopy extinction rate for light and the total amount of free nitrogen in the canopy, and that it is independent of the slope of the relation between light saturated photosynthesis (Pm) and leaf nitrogen content (nL). These hypotheses were tested experimentally for plants with inherently different architectures and different photosynthetic modes. A garden experiment was carried out with a C3 monocot [rice, Oryza sativa (L.)], a C3 dicot [soybean, Glycine max (L.) Merr] a C4 monocot [sorghum, Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moensch] and a C4 dicot [amarantus, Amaranthus cruentus (L.)]. Leaf photosynthetic characteristics as well as light and nitrogen distribution in the canopies of dense stands of these species were measured. The dicot stands were found to have higher extinction coefficients for light than the monocot stands. Dicots also had more non-uniform N distribution patterns. The main difference between the C3 and C4 species was that the C4 species were found to have a greater slope value of the leaf-level Pm-nL relation. Patterns of N distribution were similar in stands of the C3 and C4 species. In general, these experimental results were in accordance with the model predictions, in that the pattern of nitrogen allocation in the canopy is mainly determined by the extinction coefficient for light and the total amount of free nitrogen.