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Classifying aerial stems of woody plants by developmental stages using relative growth rate
Author(s) -
Fujiki Daisuke,
Kikuzawa Kihachiro
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
new phytologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.742
H-Index - 244
eISSN - 1469-8137
pISSN - 0028-646X
DOI - 10.1046/j.1469-8137.2003.00939.x
Subject(s) - shoot , biology , stage (stratigraphy) , botany , woody plant , developmental stage , horticulture , psychology , paleontology , developmental psychology
Summary• Here we propose a new method for classifying aerial stems of woody plants by developmental stage, using the logarithmic reciprocal of relative growth rate (LRR) as an indicator of developmental stage. • Stem analyses were conducted on naturally dead aerial stems of Lindera umbellata to clarify the changes in LRR over a lifetime. LRR, number of current‐year shoots, and the recruitment and mortality rates of shoots of living stems were investigated. • LRR was at a minimum value at age 1 yr and at a maximum just before each stem died. There was little difference between the ranges of stem LRR. The recruitment and mortality rates of shoots depended on LRR. • LRR satisfied the necessary and sufficient condition for a variable as an indicator of stage better than either age or size. The LRR‐structured model accurately demonstrates the real demographic processes in shoot populations over a lifetime of aerial stems. This result supports the utility of LRR as an indicator of stage. The method using LRR can be applied to analyses for other growth processes.