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Tree Size- and Age-Related Changes in Leaf Physiology and Their Influence on Carbon Gain

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Book cover Size- and Age-Related Changes in Tree Structure and Function

Part of the book series: Tree Physiology ((TREE,volume 4))

Abstract

Understanding how leaf-level physiology changes with tree size and age is important for scaling single leaf measurements to the whole plant and stand level and for quantifying carbon fluxes from forest ecosystems. This chapter reviews what is known about the influences of tree height and age on gas exchange and foliar structure in both gymnosperm and angiosperm trees. We address how the key physiological processes, photosynthesis, respiration and stomatal conductance vary with tree height and age. To help explain the observed patterns, the underlying factors that can be responsible for the changes in leaf physiology are assessed, including tree size- and age-related trends in foliar anatomy, morphology and chemistry. In addition to modifications in foliar morphology and chemistry, biochemical limitations to net assimilation rates associated with the diffusion of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to the sites of carboxylation are examined. Our review emphasizes that a variety of factors collectively are responsible for tree height- and age-related decline in net photosynthetic rates, and that the importance of different limitations varies for different species and between gymnosperm and angiosperm trees. While there is still much to be learned, what is clear from our current understanding is that more integrated studies that consider the simultaneous roles of leaf structure, chemistry and stomatal and mesophyll factors are needed to disentangle and assign importance to the various factors responsible for decreases in carbon gain with tree age and size.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Ghent University, Coupure links 653, B-9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Kathy Steppe

  2. Institute of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Estonian University of Life Sciences, Kreutzwaldi 1, Tartu, 51014, Estonia

    Ülo Niinemets

  3. Daniel B. Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Robert O. Teskey

Authors
  1. Kathy Steppe
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  2. Ülo Niinemets
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  3. Robert O. Teskey
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Correspondence to Kathy Steppe .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Forestry Sciences Lab., Ecosystem Processes Program, USDA Forest Service, SW. Jefferson Way 3200, Corvallis, 97331, Oregon, USA

    Frederick C. Meinzer

  2. , Department of Wood Science and Engineeri, Oregon State University, Richardson Hall 119, Corvallis, 97331, Oregon, USA

    Barbara Lachenbruch

  3. Dept. Integrative Biology, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, 94720, California, USA

    Todd E. Dawson

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Steppe, K., Niinemets, Ü., Teskey, R.O. (2011). Tree Size- and Age-Related Changes in Leaf Physiology and Their Influence on Carbon Gain. In: Meinzer, F., Lachenbruch, B., Dawson, T. (eds) Size- and Age-Related Changes in Tree Structure and Function. Tree Physiology, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1242-3_9

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