%0 Journal Article %1 korneretal_86 %A Koerner, C. H. %A Bannister, P. %A Mark, A. F. %D 1986 %J Oecologia %K bibtex-import citeulikeExport %N 4 %P 577--588 %T Altitudinal variation in stomatal conductance, nitrogen content and leaf anatomy in different plant life forms in New Zealand %U http://www.springerlink.com/content/k71143770lp6ru62/ %V 69

@article{korneretal_86, added-at = {2019-03-31T01:14:40.000+0100}, author = {Koerner, C. H. and Bannister, P. and Mark, A. F.}, biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2e3d5702d694f55290494e12b98b8d460/dianella}, citeulike-article-id = {1523771}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://www.springerlink.com/content/k71143770lp6ru62/}, comment = {(private-note)in trees, shrubs and herbs g, LN, and n increased, while SLA and leaf area decreased with elevation. Recent investigations have found the same thing. It is concluded that g is dependent upon light climate rather than water supply, whereas SLA and related struc- tural features appear to be controlled by the temperature regime, as they show similar altitudinal changes under dif- ferent light and moisture gradients. The higher leaf nitrogen content found at high elevations in all three life forms, suggests that metabolic activity of mature leaves is not re- stricted by low nitrogen supply at high altitude. In general, the leaves of herbaceous plants show more pronounced structural and functional changes with altitude than the leaves of shrubs and trees. The data obtained during this field study provide further support for various functional correlations between gas exchange parameters, nutritional status and structure of leaves that have received particular attention recently. Sev- eral authors have shown the existence of a close relationship between leaf conductance and photosynthetic CO2 uptake (Wong et al. 1979, KSrner et al. 1979, Schulze and Hall 1982), and a close correlation between photosynthetic ca- pacity and leaf nitrogen content has also been shown for many different plant species from various environments (references in DeJong 1982; Field et al. 1983; Medina 1984; Comstock and Ehleringer 1984). In the present study, there is an association of maximum leaf diffusive conductance with total leaf nitrogen content that would be expected from the above relationships (Fig. 3). The relationship between maximum leaf conductance and nitrogen content appears to be markedly different in the studied species and life forms. This implies differences in nitrogen-use efficiency with respect to maximum epider- mal conductance (which may correspond to photosynthetic capacity). Nothofagus appears the least and Ranunculus the most efficient. Nothofagus also shows the smallest gain in conductance for a given increase in nitrogen content, larger gains are shown by shrubs and the largest by herbs. This sequence (tree-shrub-herb) is also the sequence for decreas- ing leaf longevity and increasing specific leaf area among the studied species. Field and Mooney (1983) arrived at similar conclusions for the nitrogen-use efficiency of photo- synthesis of aging leaves of a shrub from the Californian chaparral. Figure 4 shows that there is a correlation between the amounts of nitrogen and dry matter per unit leaf area. Such trends have also been found by Khan and Tsunoda (1970), Yoshida and Coronel (1976), Mooney et al. (1978), Mooney (1983), Medina (1984), K/Srner and Cochrane (1985) and others. It appears, therefore, that the relationships obtained for native plants from the humid mountains of New Zealand are basically similar to those observed in plants with leaves of varied sclerophylly or longevity from a range of contrast- ing environments (e.g. mediterranean or semi-arid shrub- lands, tropical forests and grassland, or even agricultural crops). Hence the altitudinal variation of the leaf character- istics described in this paper reflects functional patterns that are apparently widely distributed in nature. Temperature gradients are particularly steep on islands: According to McCracken (1980), again in the Craigieburn Range, the dry adiabatic lapse rate of the mean annual air temperature is 0.66 K/100 m, and reaches 0.70 to 0.75 in midsummer. Monthly mean maxima in summer reach 1.07 K/100 m. Similar lapse rates are reported by Greer (1978). Corresponding values for the Central Alps are 0.5, 0.65, and 0.7 K/100 m (Fliri 1975). Thus, altitudinal temperature gradients are particularly steep in New Zealand, as is typical for islands, and are expressed in a comparatively compressed altitudinal zonation of the vegetation (Mark 1965; Wardle 1974; Heine 1978; Franz 1979; Benecke and Havranek 1980). The strong winds and frequent midday cloud cover on the higher mountains of New Zealand will reduce the likelihood of massive heat accumulation in the canopies of alpine vegetation that has been described for continental sites (Gates et al. 1964; Cernusca 1976, Smith and Geller 1979; Krrner and Cochrane 1983). Thus, plant temperatures in the mountains of New Zealand may be assumed to be, on average, somewhat closer to ambient temperature than in other less maritime mountain areas. There is, however, some evidence that snow tussocks from subalpine grassland can show substantial heat accumulation for short periods (McCracken 1980). According to Greer (1978) the mean maximum air temperature, in February, within tussock canopies from the Old Man Range is about 4 K higher than that above the canopy (mean for two years).}, interhash = {16123a53da694dae8548e88362e95648}, intrahash = {e3d5702d694f55290494e12b98b8d460}, journal = {Oecologia}, keywords = {bibtex-import citeulikeExport}, number = 4, pages = {577--588}, posted-at = {2007-07-31 06:24:10}, priority = {5}, timestamp = {2019-03-31T01:16:26.000+0100}, title = {{Altitudinal variation in stomatal conductance, nitrogen content and leaf anatomy in different plant life forms in New Zealand}}, url = {http://www.springerlink.com/content/k71143770lp6ru62/}, volume = 69, year = 1986 }