Summary
Photosynthetic and water relations characteristics of small juvenile and large reproductive plants were investigated during one growing season for four woody species native to Red Butte Canyon, Utah, USA: Acer negundo, Artemisia tridentata, Chrysothamnus nauseosus, and Salix exigua. For all species, juvenile plants differed from reproductive plants in at least one of the following characters: water potential, stomatal conductance, photosynthetic rate, or water-use efficiency. Late in the growing season, mortality occurred within juvenile plants (apparently due to a lack of water), but not within reproductive plants. The observed differences between juvenile and reproductive classes are discussed in terms of environment, development, and mortality selection.
Article PDF
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
Cohen D (1970) The expected efficiency of water utilization in plants under different competition and selection regimes. Israel J Bot 19: 50–54
Cook RE (1979) Patterns of juvenile mortality and recruitment in plants. In: Solbrig OT, Jain S, Johnson GB, and Raven PH (eds) Topics in plant population biology. Columbia Univ Press, New York, pp 207–231
Cowan IR (1982) Regulation of water use in relation to carbon gain in higher pants. In: Lange OL, Nobel PS, Osmond CB, Ziegler H (eds) Water relations and carbon assimilation. Encyclopedia in plant physiology, NS, vol 12B. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, New York, pp 589–613
Davis SD, Mooney HA (1986) Tissue water relations of four cooccurring chaparral shrubs. Oecologia 70: 527–535
DeJong TJ, Klinkhamer PGL (1988) Seedling establishment of the biennials Cirsium vulgare and Cynoglosium officinale in a sanddune area: the importance of water for differential survival and growth. J Ecol 76: 393–402
Dina SJ (1970) An evaluation of physiological response to water stress as a factor influencing the distribution of six woody species in Red Butte Canyon, Utah. Dissertation, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Ehleringer JR, Osmond CB (1989) Stable Isotopes. In: Pearcy RW, Ehleringer JR, Mooney HA, Rundel PW (eds) Plant Physiological Ecology. Chapman and Hall, New York, pp 281–300
Endler JA (1986) Natural Selection in the Wild. Monographs in Population Biology 21, Princeton University Press, Princeton
Farquhar GD, Ehleringer JR, Hubick KT (1989) Carbon isotope discrimination and photosynthesis. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Mol Biol 40: 503–537
Farris MA (1988) Quantitative genetic variation and natural selection in Cleome serrulata growing along a mild soil moisture gradient. Can J Bot 66: 1870–1876
Frazer JM, Davis SD (1988) Differential survival of chaparral seedlings during the first summer drought after wildfire. Oecologia 76: 215–221
Grubb PJ (1977) The maintenance of species-richness in plant communities: the importance of the regeneration niche. Biol Rev 52: 107–145
Harper JL, J White (1974) The demography of plants. Ann Rev Ecol Syst 5: 419–463
Hubick KT, Shorter R, Farquhar GD (1988) Heritability and genotype x environment interactions of carbon isotope discrimination and transpiration efficiency in peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.). Aust J Plant Physiol 15: 799–813
Martin B, Nienhuis J, King G, Schaefer A (1989) Restriction fragment length polymorphisms associated with water-use efficiency in tomato. Science 243: 1725–1728
Monson RK, Grant MC (1989) Experimental studies of ponderosa pine. III. Differences in photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and water-use efficiency between two genetic lines. Am J Bot 76: 1041–1047
Parker WC, Pallardy SG (1985) Genotypic variation in tissue water relations of leaves and roots of black walnut (Juglans nigra) seedlings. Physiol Plant 64: 105–110
Passioura JB (1982) Water in the soil-plant-atmosphere continuum. In: Lange OL, Nobel PS, Osmond CB, Ziegler H (eds) Water relations and carbon assimilation. (Encyclopedia in plant physiology, NS, vol 12B). Springer-Verlag, New York, pp 5–33
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry. W.H. Freeman and Co, New York
Toft NL, Anderson JE, Nowak RS (1989) Water-use efficiency and carbon isotope composition of plants in a cold desert environment. Oecologia 80: 11–18
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Donovan, L.A., Ehleringer, J.R. Ecophysiological differences among juvenile and reproductive plants of several woody species. Oecologia 86, 594–597 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318327
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00318327