McCulloh2010

Report for study: McCulloh2010

Contact Information

Data contributor: Katherine McCulloh

Email: kmcculloh@wisc.edu

Address:

• Department of Botany, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Dr, Madison, WI 53706, USA

Data source

Citation: McCulloh K, Sperry JS, Lachenbruch B, Meinzer FC, Reich PB and Voelker S (2010). 'Moving water well: comparing hydraulic efficiency in twigs and trunks of coniferous, ring-porous, and diffuse-porous saplings from temperate and tropical forests.' New Phytologist, 186(2), pp. 439-450.

DOI: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03181.x

Abstract: Summary * {* Coniferous}, diffuse-porous and ring-porous trees vary in their xylem anatomy, but the functional consequences of these differences are not well understood from the scale of the conduit to the individual. * {* Hydraulic} and anatomical measurements were made on branches and trunks from 16 species from temperate and tropical areas, representing all three wood types. Scaling of stem conductivity (Kh) with stem diameter was used to model the hydraulic conductance of the stem network. * {* Ring-porous} trees showed the steepest increase in Kh with stem size. Temperate diffuse-porous trees were at the opposite extreme, and conifers and tropical diffuse-porous species were intermediate. Scaling of Kh was influenced by differences in the allometry of conduit diameter (taper) and packing (number per wood area) with stem size. * {* The} Kh trends were mirrored by the modeled stem-network conductances. Ring-porous species had the greatest network conductance and this value increased isometrically with trunk basal area, indicating that conductance per unit sapwood was independent of tree size. Conductances were lowest and most size-dependent in conifers. The results indicate that differences in conduit taper and packing between functional types propagate to the network level and have an important influence on metabolic scaling concepts.

Overview of data provided

The dataset includes records for 64 individuals from 16 species belonging to 12 family(ies), presenting 3 functional type(s), growing in 1 condition(s) within 2 major type(s) of habitat, with data included for the following variables:

Variable	Label	Units	N	Min	Median	Max
latitude	Latitude	deg	64	9	44	45
longitude	Longitude	deg	64	-123	-123	-80
a.lf	Leaf area	m2	64	0.096	0.61	5.5
a.ssba	Sapwood area at base	m2	62	0.000015	0.000094	0.00059
a.stba	Stem area at base	m2	64	0.000027	0.00018	0.00062
h.t	Height	m	22	0.5	1.9	4.5
d.ba	Basal diameter	m	64	0.0059	0.015	0.028

And locally within the country:

The sites sampled are:

Location	Longitude	Latitude	Vegetation
missing	-93	45	Temperate forest, Tropical seasonal forest
missing	-123	44	Temperate forest, Tropical seasonal forest
missing	-80	9	Temperate forest, Tropical seasonal forest

The growing conditions of sampled plants was:

Location	Grouping	growingCondition
missing	wood.type = ring-porous	field wild
missing	wood.type = diffuse-porous	field wild
missing	wood.type = conifer	field wild

Species sampled

Species	Family	Pft
Quercus ellipsoidalis	Fagaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Robinia pseudoacacia	Fabaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Fraxinus latifolia	Oleaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Alnus rubra	Betulaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Acer circinatum	Sapindaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Arbutus menziesii	Ericaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Acer macrophyllum	Sapindaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Abies grandis	Pinaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Pseudotsuga menziesii	Pinaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Tsuga heterophylla	Pinaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Thuja plicata	Cupressaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Pinus ponderosa	Pinaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Cordia alliodora	Boraginaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Anacardium excelsum	Anacardaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Ficus insipida	Moraceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm
Luehea seemannii	Malvaceae	deciduous angiosperm, evergreen gymnosperm, evergreen angiosperm

Methods used

Sampling strategy: Saplings were selected that were 1-4 m in height. All saplings of a species came from similar light environments.

Leaf area: For angiosperms, leaf area was measured on all leaves with either a leaf area meter (li-3100C; Li-Cor Biosciences, Lincoln, NE USA) or a flatbed scanner and the images were then analyzed using ImageJ (National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA). For conifers, subsamples were dried for 3d in 60degC and measured using a flatbed scanner. The areas were then doubled to account for the more vertical positioning of the needles. The weights and areas were also used to calculate SLA and total leaf area.

Stem cross sectional area: Stem cross-sectional area was measured on de-barked samples.

Height: Height was determined by measuring the length between the ground and the highest leaf.

Traits: Hydraulic conductivity was determined by measuring the volume flow rate of water divided by the pressure gradient inducing flow in saturated stems. Xylem vessel and tracheid diameters were also measured on cross-sections of the trunks and branches.

Year collected: 2005, 2007

Acknowledgements: K. A. M. wishes to thank L. Bernart, C. Berthier, B. Becker, J. C. Domec, P. Gourdon and S. L. Voelker for assistance with data collection and NSF grant IOS 05-44470 and DEB 0080382 for financial assistance

Plots of data

This is how the study McCulloh2010 fits in the entire dataset (grey). each colour represents a species. A legend of species names with colours is included at the end for reports with 1 < n < 20 species.