Gas Exchange Characteristics of Major Tree Species in Ogawa Forest Reserve

Abstract

Plants grow and develop through photosynthetic production. Photosynthesis is affected by external and internal factors such as sunlight, temperature, and other climatic conditions, nutrition status, and the morphological and anatomical features of the leaves. Since Boysen—Jensen’s original study (1932, etc.), researchers have sought to identify both, qualitatively and quantitatively, the relationship between various factors and the photosynthetic rate of numerous plant species, and there have been many reports on the results (Tokari 1977; Tazaki 1978; Hatano and Sasaki 1987; Furukawa 1991; Larcher 1995; Koike 1988, 1996; etc.). Nevertheless, the target species in such reports have mostly been herbaceous plants, with the focus on agricultural crops, and there have been relatively few studies on woody plants. According to the literature survey conducted by Linder (1979, 1981), for example, since 1891, only 130 species worldwide have been the subject of studies on photosynthesis (and the only trees studied were coniferous). This is in spite of the fact that in Japan alone there are 500 species of woody plants.