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Within- and between-site variations in leaf longevity in hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) plantations in southwestern Japan

  • Original Article
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Journal of Forest Research

Abstract

We investigated mean leaf retention time in order to elucidate the factors affecting regional and local variations in stand-level leaf longevity in hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) plantations. Our study sites consisted of six stands at a low elevation (320–370 m a.s.l.) and 12 stands at a high elevation (850–970 m a.s.l.) in southwestern Japan. We also used published data on leaf longevity in stands at various elevations to clarify the regional-scale variations in leaf longevity and their relationships to environmental factors. At the regional scale, leaf longevity increased with increasing elevation and with decreasing air temperature, growing season length, and Kira’s warmth index across sites. Similar relationships were obtained for the variation in leaf mass. At the local scale, leaf longevity did not show a clear relationship with topographic position, soil water content, or soil C/N ratio. Contrary to our expectation, leaf longevity was negatively correlated with the leaf C/N ratio at both study sites, although the significance level was marginal. This indicates greater leaf longevity with better leaf nutrient status. Our results suggest that responses of leaf longevity in hinoki cypress stands to environmental factors would be more prominent at the regional scale than at the local scale, although large variation was detected at the local scale. Air temperature and growing season length appear to be the main drivers of the variation in leaf longevity at the regional scale, whereas the causal factors are unclear at the local scale.

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Acknowledgments

We thank the Shikoku Regional Forest Office, the Reihoku District Forest Office, and the Shimanto District Forest Office, Forestry Agency of Japan, for permitting our field surveys at the study sites. We also thank Dr. Hisao Sakai, Shikoku Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, for his valuable advice on an earlier version of this manuscript. This study was supported by research grants #200701 and #201105 from the Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Shikoku Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 2-915 Asakura-Nishimachi, Kochi, 780-8077, Japan

    Kazuki Miyamoto, Mahoko Noguchi & Takeharu Itou

  2. Kansai Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 68 Nagaikyutaro, Momoyama-cho, Fushimi, Kyoto, 612-0855, Japan

    Shiro Okuda

  3. Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, 1 Matsunosato, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8687, Japan

    Yoshiyuki Inagaki

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  1. Kazuki Miyamoto
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  2. Shiro Okuda
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  3. Yoshiyuki Inagaki
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  5. Takeharu Itou
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Kazuki Miyamoto.

Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 5 and 6.

Table 5 Regression coefficients, standard errors of the estimate (SEE), and coefficients of determination (R 2) for the allometric equations (lny = a + blnx) for components of aboveground biomass (AGB) and leaf area
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Table 6 Published data from hinoki cypress stands that were used in this study to provide a regional-level comparison
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Miyamoto, K., Okuda, S., Inagaki, Y. et al. Within- and between-site variations in leaf longevity in hinoki cypress (Chamaecyparis obtusa) plantations in southwestern Japan. J For Res 18, 256–269 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10310-012-0346-1

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