An earlier spring changes the growing conditions for trees, and not always for the better.
Continue reading Changing seasons change tree growth, changing carbon sequestration by forests
The computing principle GIGO states that if the data you put into a model is garbage, then the output will be too. Jie Yang and colleagues have been tackling the problem of modeling of tropical tree growth. What data is the best data for these models? One approach that you could expect is to take an average of traits as data. “While collecting trait data from a small number of individuals may be a pragmatic approach, particularly in diverse systems, the analysis of population- or species-mean trait data is conceptually misaligned with the vast evolutionary ecology literature relating traits to...
Continue reading You get a better model of the forest when you look at the individual trees
Three key functions are required for the long-term persistence of tree populations in a landscape. Broadly speaking, trees must acquire and allocate resources to maintain or increase their biomass, to tolerate or resist stress, and to pass genetic material to new generations. Yet the three central resource allocation pathways of growth, defence and reproduction have rarely been assessed simultaneously nor have they been assessed across individual to landscape scales. This information is critical to identifying the physiological, environmental and genetic mechanisms underpinning resource allocation. In a recent study published in AoBP, Redmond et al. assessed trade-offs between growth, defence and reproduction among piñon...
Continue reading Resource allocation trade-offs in a mast-seeding conifer
MuSCA reveals that the topological scale has a major influence on the simulation of carbon allocation.
Continue reading Introducing MuSCA, the multi-scale carbon allocation model
A mismatch between the thresholds of temperature and moisture for the onset of xylogenesis may increase forest vulnerability in semi-arid areas under forecasted warmer and drier conditions.
Continue reading Thresholds for the onset of xylogenesis in juniper
You might be surprised that it has any positive effects, but anthropogenic Nitrogen has been boosting the nutrients for sugar maples in Michigan. But these benefits are likely to be lost in the future due to rising CO2 concentrations.
Continue reading Pollution isn’t always good for treesBotany One is a blog run by the Annals of Botany Company, a non-profit educational charity.
In addition to Botany One, the company currently publishes three journals, the Annals of Botany, AoB PLANTS, and in silico Plants.
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