Premium
BALDCYPRESS SEEDLING GROWTH IN THERMALLY ALTERED HABITATS
Author(s) -
McLeod Kenneth W.,
Sherrod Casey
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.1002/j.1537-2197.1981.tb07807.x
Subject(s) - taxodium , cypress , seedling , biology , shoot , biomass (ecology) , streams , botany , germination , horticulture , dry weight , agronomy , computer network , computer science
Thermal discharges from nuclear production reactors killed large areas of baldcypress‐water tupelo ( Taxodium distichum‐Nyssa aquatica ) forests along streams on the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina. Recolonization by baldcypress has been slow in areas where present stream temperatures do not exceed ambient by more than 10 C and has not occurred at all at higher temperatures. Since it has been previously shown that cypress germination and establishment are not inhibited at stream temperature below 42 C, the growth of 1‐yr‐old baldcypress seedlings introduced into ambient (T max = 32 C) and ambient + 10 C (T max = 42 C) stream temperatures was examined during a 16‐month period to determine the response of this growth stage. Growth in height, diameter and biomass of these seedlings was enhanced in a stream habitat with maximum water temperatures of 42 C. Allocation of dry weight into root and shoot tissues was modified by stream temperature, with a lower root/shoot ratio in plants at the 42 C location. In thermally altered (‐42 C) areas, neither establishment nor growth of established cypress seedlings is limited by stream temperature. Thus, slow reinvasion of these sites by baldcypress is thought to be due to a lack of a seed source and/or competitive exclusion.