Leaf-age and petiole biomass play significant roles in leaf scaling theory

作者：Xuchen Guo, Julian Schrader, Peijian Shi, Yabing Jiao, Qinyue Miao, Jianhui Xue, Karl J. Niklas · 发表于：Frontiers in Plant Science · 年份：2023 · DOI：10.3389/fpls.2023.1322245 · 被引用次数：11 · 研究领域：Plant and animal studies、Ecology and Vegetation Dynamics Studies、Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics

Foliage leaves are essential for plant survival and growth, and how plants allocate biomass to their leaves reveals their economic and ecological strategies. Prior studies have shown that leaf-age significantly influences leaf biomass allocation patterns. However, unravelling the effects of ontogeny on partitioning biomass remains a challenge because it is confounded by the effects of environmental factors. Here, we aim to elucidate whether leaf-age affects the allocation to the lamina and petiole by examining leaves of known age growing in the same general environmental context. We sampled 2698 Photinia serratifolia leaves developing in the same environment from April to November 2021, representing eight leaf-ages ( n > 300 for each leaf-age). Petiole and lamina biomass, and lamina area were measured to evaluate the scaling relationships using reduced major axis regression protocols. The bootstrap percentile method was used to determine the differences in scaling exponents among the different leaf-ages. ANOVA with Tukey’s HSD was used to compare the ratios of petiole and lamina biomass to lamina area across the leaf-ages. Correlation tests were used to determine if exponents, intercepts, and ratios differed significantly across the different leaf-ages. The data indicated that (i) the ratio of petiole and lamina biomass to lamina area and the scaling exponent of lamina biomass versus lamina area correlate positively with leaf-age, and (ii) the scaling exponent of petio...