Overview

Millions of trees live and grow all around us, and we all recognize the vital role they play in the world’s ecosystems. Publicity campaigns exhort us to plant yet more. Yet until recently comparatively little was known about the root causes of the physical changes that attend their growth. Since trees typically increase in size by three to four orders of magnitude in their journey to maturity, this gap in our knowledge has been a crucial issue to address. Here at last is a synthesis of the current state of our knowledge about both the causes and consequences of ontogenetic changes in key features of tree structure and function. During their ontogeny, trees undergo numerous changes in their physiological function, the structure and mechanical properties of their wood, and overall architecture and allometry. This book examines the central interplay between these changes and tree size and age. It also explores the impact these changes can have, at the level of the individual tree, on the emerging characteristics of forest ecosystems at various stages of their development. The analysis offers an explanation for the importance of discriminating between the varied physical properties arising from the nexus of size and age, as well as highlighting the implications these ontogenetic changes have for commercial forestry and climate change. This important and timely summation of our knowledge base in this area, written by highly respected researchers, will be of huge interest, not only to researchers, but also to forest managers and silviculturists.

Full Product Details

Author:   Frederick C. Meinzer ,  Barbara Lachenbruch ,  Todd E. Dawson
Publisher:   Springer
Imprint:   Springer
Edition:   2011 ed.
Volume:   4
Dimensions:   Width: 15.50cm , Height: 3.60cm , Length: 23.50cm
Weight:   0.982kg
ISBN:  

9789400712416

ISBN 10:   9400712413
Pages:   514
Publication Date:   01 July 2011
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  College/higher education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Awaiting stock  
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Table of Contents

List of contributors Preface SECTION I: THE WHOLE-LIFESPAN PERSPECTIVE ON INTEGRATION OF STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION 1. A Lifespan Perspective on Integrating Structure and Function in Trees Thomas M. Hinckley, Barbara Lachenbruch, Frederick C. Meinzer, and Todd E. Dawson   SECTION II: REPRODUCTION AND REGENERATION 2. Age-related Changes in Tree Growth and Functional Biology: the Role of Reproduction Sean C. Thomas 3. The Earliest Stages of Tree Growth: Development, Physiology and Impacts of Climate Change Daniel Johnson, Katherine A. McCulloh, and Keith Reinhardt   SECTION III: INTEGRATION OF STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION ACROSS ONTOGENY 4, Regulation of Ontogeny in Temperate Conifers Michael E. Day and Michael S. Greenwood 5. Radial Variation in Wood Structure and Function in Woody Plants, and Hypotheses for its Occurrence Barbara Lachenbruch, John R. Moore, and Robert Evans 6. Size-related Changes in Tree Proportions and Their Potential Influence on the Course of Height Growth David A. King 7. Influence of Tree Ontogeny on Plant-Herbivore Interactions Karina Boege, Kasey E. Barton, and Rodolfo Dirzo 8. How do Changes in Leaf/shoot Morphology and Crown Architecture Affect Growth and Physiological Function of Large, old Trees? Hiroaki Ishii   SECTION IV: PHOTOSYNTHETIC GAS EXCHANGE AND CARBON BALANCE 9. Tree size- and Age-Related Changes in Leaf Physiology and Their Influence on Carbon Gain Kathy Steppe, Űlo Niinemets, and Robert O. Teskey 10. Relationships Between Tree Height and Carbon Isotope Discrimination Nate G. McDowell, Barbara J. Bond, Lee T. Hill, Michael G. Ryan, and David Whitehead 11. Carbon Storage in Trees: Does Relative Carbon Supply Decrease With Tree Size? Anna Sala,Willa Fouts, and Günter Hoch   SECTION V: WATER RELATIONS AND TRANSPORT PROCESSES 12. Comparative Criteria for Models of the Fluid Transport System of Tall Trees Maurizio Mencuccini, Teemu Hölttä, and Jordi Martinez-Vilalta 13. Hydraulic Capacitance: Biophysics and Functional Significance of Internal Water Sources in Relation to Tree Size Fabian G. Scholz, Nathan G. Phillips, Sandra J. Bucci, Frederick C. Meinzer, and Guillermo Goldstein 14. Size-Dependent Changes in Biophysical Control of Tree Growth: the Role of Turgor David R. Woodruff and Frederick C. Meinzer 15. Instrumental Approaches to Studying Tree Water Relations Along Gradients of Tree Size and Forest Age Jan Čermák and Nadezhda Nadezhdina   SECTION VI: SCALING FROM INDIVIDUAL TRAITS TO STANDS 16. Ecophysiology of Secondary Succession in Tropical Moist Forest: Scaling From Individual Traits to Whole-Plant Performance Niels Anten and N. Galia Selaya 17. Age-Dependent Changes in Environmental Influences on Tree Growth and Their Implications for Forest Responses to Climate Change Steven L. Voelker 18. Consequences of Stand age and Species' Functional Trait Changes on Ecosystem Water use of Forests Brent Ewers, D. Scott Mackay, and Ben Bond-Lamberty

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