Duchesneau, R.; Lesage, I.; Messier, C. et Morin, H.
(2001).
« Effects of light and intraspecific competition on growth and crown morphology of two size classes of understory balsam fir saplings ».
Forest Ecology and Management, 140, pp. 215-225.
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Résumé
This paper characterizes the growth and crown morphology of young balsam fir saplings naturally regenerated under a gradient of understory light environments and intraspecific competition densities for two size classes (50-100 cm and 100-200 cm). Most growth and crown morphological parameters investigated were strongly related to the natural light gradient investigated (3-83% full sunlight), but the relationship tended to plateau at around 25% full sunlight. The relationships were generally better for the larger size class. Intraspecific competition did not significantly affect growth and crown morphology of saplings receiving less than 25% full sunlight, but it affected relative height growth, relative radial growth and the apical dominance ratio for those receiving more than 25% full sunlight (R2=0.506; p<0.001; R2=0.403; p<0.002; R2=0.348; p<0.001, respectively). These results suggest that live crown ratio, apical dominance ratio and the number of internodal branches can provide, alone or in combination, useful indicators of vigour for understory fir. Such a study provides the basic data inputs required for the development of empirically-derived mechanistic models that can predict understory tree growth and survival.
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