Shade acclimation in the forage grass Festuca Pallescens: biomass allocation and foliage orientation

2004 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 159-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
María Elena Fernández ◽  
Javier E. Gyenge ◽  
Tomás M. Schlichter
Keyword(s):  
Biomass Allocation ◽  
Forage Grass ◽  
Shade Acclimation ◽  
Festuca Pallescens

scholarly journals Generic Additive Allometric Models and Biomass Allocation for Two Natural Oak Species in Northeastern China

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (6) ◽  
pp. 715
Author(s):  
Shengwang Meng ◽  
Fan Yang ◽  
Sheng Hu ◽  
Haibin Wang ◽  
Huimin Wang
Keyword(s):  
Biomass Allocation ◽  
Tree Height ◽  
Northeastern China ◽  
Seemingly Unrelated Regression ◽  
Biomass Estimation ◽  
Model Parameters ◽  
Stem Biomass ◽  
Crown Width ◽  
Biomass Models ◽  
Mongolian Oak

Current models for oak species could not accurately estimate biomass in northeastern China, since they are usually restricted to Mongolian oak (Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Ledeb.) on local sites, and specifically, no biomass models are available for Liaodong oak (Quercuswutaishanica Mayr). The goal of this study was, therefore, to develop generic biomass models for both oak species on a large scale and evaluate the biomass allocation patterns within tree components. A total of 159 sample trees consisting of 120 Mongolian oak and 39 Liaodong oak were harvested and measured for wood (inside bark), bark, branch and foliage biomass. To account for the belowground biomass, 53 root systems were excavated following the aboveground harvest. The share of biomass allocated to different components was assessed by calculating the ratios. An aboveground additive system of biomass models and belowground equations were fitted based on predictors considering diameter (D), tree height (H), crown width (CW) and crown length (CL). Model parameters were estimated by jointly fitting the total and the components’ equations using the weighted nonlinear seemingly unrelated regression method. A leave-one-out cross-validation procedure was used to evaluate the predictive ability. The results revealed that stem biomass accounts for about two-thirds of the aboveground biomass. The ratio of wood biomass holds constant and that of branches increases with increasing D, H, CW and CL, while a reverse trend was found for bark and foliage. The root-to-shoot ratio nonlinearly decreased with D, ranging from 1.06 to 0.11. Tree diameter proved to be a good predictor, especially for root biomass. Tree height is more prominent than crown size for improving stem biomass models, yet it puts negative effects on crown biomass models with non-significant coefficients. Crown width could help improve the fitting results of the branch and foliage biomass models. We conclude that the selected generic biomass models for Mongolian oak and Liaodong oak will vigorously promote the accuracy of biomass estimation.

scholarly journals Aboveground Biomass Allocation of Boreal Shrubs and Short-Stature Trees in Northwestern Canada

Forests ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 234
Author(s):  
Linda Flade ◽  
Christopher Hopkinson ◽  
Laura Chasmer
Keyword(s):  
Short Stature ◽  
Biomass Allocation ◽  
Aboveground Biomass ◽  
Leaf Biomass ◽  
Sectional Area ◽  
Plant Component ◽  
Cross Sectional ◽  
Allometric Models ◽  
Stem Biomass ◽  
Model Fits

In this follow-on study on aboveground biomass of shrubs and short-stature trees, we provide plant component aboveground biomass (herein ‘AGB’) as well as plant component AGB allometric models for five common boreal shrub and four common boreal short-stature tree genera/species. The analyzed plant components consist of stem, branch, and leaf organs. We found similar ratios of component biomass to total AGB for stems, branches, and leaves amongst shrubs and deciduous tree genera/species across the southern Northwest Territories, while the evergreen Picea genus differed in the biomass allocation to aboveground plant organs compared to the deciduous genera/species. Shrub component AGB allometric models were derived using the three-dimensional variable volume as predictor, determined as the sum of line-intercept cover, upper foliage width, and maximum height above ground. Tree component AGB was modeled using the cross-sectional area of the stem diameter as predictor variable, measured at 0.30 m along the stem length. For shrub component AGB, we achieved better model fits for stem biomass (60.33 g ≤ RMSE ≤ 163.59 g; 0.651 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.885) compared to leaf biomass (12.62 g ≤ RMSE ≤ 35.04 g; 0.380 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.735), as has been reported by others. For short-stature trees, leaf biomass predictions resulted in similar model fits (18.21 g ≤ RMSE ≤ 70.0 g; 0.702 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.882) compared to branch biomass (6.88 g ≤ RMSE ≤ 45.08 g; 0.736 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.923) and only slightly better model fits for stem biomass (30.87 g ≤ RMSE ≤ 11.72 g; 0.887 ≤ R2 ≤ 0.960), which suggests that leaf AGB of short-stature trees (<4.5 m) can be more accurately predicted using cross-sectional area as opposed to diameter at breast height for tall-stature trees. Our multi-species shrub and short-stature tree allometric models showed promising results for predicting plant component AGB, which can be utilized for remote sensing applications where plant functional types cannot always be distinguished. This study provides critical information on plant AGB allocation as well as component AGB modeling, required for understanding boreal AGB and aboveground carbon pools within the dynamic and rapidly changing Taiga Plains and Taiga Shield ecozones. In addition, the structural information and component AGB equations are important for integrating shrubs and short-stature tree AGB into carbon accounting strategies in order to improve our understanding of the rapidly changing boreal ecosystem function.

scholarly journals Flow Cytometry-Based Determination of Ploidy from Dried Leaf Specimens in Genomically Complex Collections of the Tropical Forage Grass Urochloa s. l.

Genes ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 957
Author(s):  
Paulina Tomaszewska ◽  
Till K. Pellny ◽  
Luis M. Hernández ◽  
Rowan A. C. Mitchell ◽  
Valheria Castiblanco ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Flow Cytometry ◽  
Germplasm Collection ◽  
Forage Grass ◽  
Breeding Programs ◽  
Robust Identification ◽  
Ploidy Levels ◽  
Sustainable Improvement ◽  
Tropical Forage ◽  
Relative Differences

Urochloa (including Brachiaria, Megathyrus and some Panicum) tropical grasses are native to Africa and are now, after selection and breeding, planted worldwide, particularly in South America, as important forages with huge potential for further sustainable improvement and conservation of grasslands. We aimed to develop an optimized approach to determine ploidy of germplasm collection of this tropical forage grass group using dried leaf material, including approaches to collect, dry and preserve plant samples for flow cytometry analysis. Our methods enable robust identification of ploidy levels (coefficient of variation of G0/G1 peaks, CV, typically <5%). Ploidy of some 348 forage grass accessions (ploidy range from 2x to 9x), from international genetic resource collections, showing variation in basic chromosome numbers and reproduction modes (apomixis and sexual), were determined using our defined standard protocol. Two major Urochloa agamic complexes are used in the current breeding programs at CIAT and EMBRAPA: the ’brizantha’ and ’humidicola’ agamic complexes are variable, with multiple ploidy levels. Some U. brizantha accessions have odd level of ploidy (5x), and the relative differences in fluorescence values of the peak positions between adjacent cytotypes is reduced, thus more precise examination of this species is required. Ploidy measurement of U. humidicola revealed aneuploidy.

Responses of biomass allocation to multi-factor global change: A global synthesis

2020 ◽  
Vol 304 ◽  
pp. 107115
Author(s):  
Lingyan Zhou ◽  
Yu Hong ◽  
Chenghao Li ◽  
Chunyan Lu ◽  
Yanghui He ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Global Change ◽  
Biomass Allocation
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