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Estimation of Leaf Area–Wood Density Traits Relationship in Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests of Southern Coromandel Coast, Peninsular India

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Abstract

This study estimates the existing eco-physiological traits relationship between leaf area (LA) and wood density (WD) in tropical dry evergreen forests (TDEFs) of southern Coromandel Coast, peninsular India. Leaf area and wood density of 56 tree species belonged to 49 genera and 28 families were measured to understand the relationship between the traits. Leaf area and wood density were estimated with standardised protocols. On average, each species had 3400 ± 3040 mm2 LA and 0.74 ± 0.16 g cm−3 WD. On average, each site had 2.44% of total soil organic carbon, 0.11% of nitrogen and 15.7 µg g−1 of phosphorus. The ratios of carbon–nitrogen varied from 16.2 to 32.6 (mean = 22.4 ± 4.92) and of nitrogen–phosphorus ranged from 12.7 to 19.6 (mean = 70.5 ± 15.1). The relationship between leaf area and wood density was negative and significant (r 2 = 0.34, n = 56, P < 0.005; t 54 = 9.07, P < 0.001). There was no significant difference recorded between mean LA and WD of evergreens and deciduous species. Oligotrophic habitat, semi-aridness and longer dry periods are few of the possible reasons behind the profuse occurrence of small-leaved, dense wooded evergreens in tropical dry evergreen forests.

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Acknowledgements

The first author MU thanks the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India, New Delhi, for their financial support through an INSPIRE Fellowship (IF No: 10051). We are grateful to the local people and authorities for allowing us to conduct this valuable study in their culturally rich sacred grove TDEFs, and we extend our thanks to CLRI, Chennai, for their permission to carry out soil analyses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Botany, Pachaiyappa’s College, University of Madras, Chennai, 600 030, Tamil Nadu, India

    M. Udayakumar & T. Sekar

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  1. M. Udayakumar
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  2. T. Sekar
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Correspondence to T. Sekar .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Scientist G, Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bangalore, Karnataka, India

    Krishna K. Pandey

  2. Director, Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    V. Ramakantha

  3. Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    Shakti S. Chauhan

  4. Institute of Wood Science and Technology, Bengaluru, Karnataka, India

    A.N. Arun Kumar

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Udayakumar, M., Sekar, T. (2017). Estimation of Leaf Area–Wood Density Traits Relationship in Tropical Dry Evergreen Forests of Southern Coromandel Coast, Peninsular India. In: Pandey, K., Ramakantha, V., Chauhan, S., Arun Kumar, A. (eds) Wood is Good. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-3115-1_17

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