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Inherent Variation in Growth Rate Between Higher Plants: A Search for Physiological Causes and Ecological Consequences
| Content Provider | Semantic Scholar |
|---|---|
| Author | Lambers, Hans Poorter, Hendrik |
| Copyright Year | 1992 |
| Abstract | Publisher Summary This chapter discusses a search for physiological causes and ecological consequence in reference with the variation in growth rate between higher plants. When grown under optimum conditions, plant species from fertile, productive habitats tend to have inherently higher relative growth rates (RGR) than species from less favorable environments. Under these conditions, fast-growing species produce relatively more leaf area and less root mass, which greatly contributes to their larger carbon gain per unit plant weight. Fast-growing species also have higher respiration rates per unit organ weight, due to demands of a higher RGR and higher rate of nutrient uptake. Fast-growing species have a greater capacity to acquire nutrients, which is likely to be a consequence, rather than the cause, of their higher RGR. This chapter analyses variations in morphological, physiological, chemical, and allocation characteristics underlying variation in RGR, to arrive at an appraisal of its ecological significance. The lower specific leaf area (SLA) of slow-growing species is because of the relatively high concentration of cell-wall material and quantitative secondary compounds, which may protect against detrimental abiotic and biotic factors. This chapter concludes that it is likely that there are trade-offs between growth potential and performance under adverse conditions, however, the current ecophysiological information explaining variation in RGR is too limited to support this contention quantitatively. |
| Starting Page | 187 |
| Ending Page | 261 |
| Page Count | 75 |
| File Format | PDF HTM / HTML |
| DOI | 10.1016/S0065-2504(03)34004-8 |
| Volume Number | 23 |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | http://www.science.poorter.eu/1992_Lambers&Poorter_AER.pdf |
| Alternate Webpage(s) | https://doi.org/10.1016/S0065-2504%2803%2934004-8 |
| Language | English |
| Access Restriction | Open |
| Content Type | Text |
| Resource Type | Article |
