Seasonal Changes in Leaf Area and Leaf Mass of Dominant Trees of Western Himalayan Forests
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36808/if/2018/v144i2/122522Keywords:
Forest Trees, Leaf Area and Leaf Mass, North and South Aspect, Western Himalaya, Climate Change Mitigation.Abstract
This paper deals with leaf area and leaf mass changes across the annual growth cycle in eight major forest forming tree species of Western Himalayan forests along an altitudinal gradient of 300 - 2200 m asl to elucidate the impact of atmospheric warming on leaf traits. We have taken forest aspects (North, N and South, S) as the proxy of atmospheric warming expecting that the N and S aspects varying with respect to atmospheric temperature and other microclimatic conditions will have an impact on leaf traits. We collected data on leaf area and leaf mass changes at monthly interval over two growth cycles (2014 - 2016) right from leaf initiation to leaf fall for eight dominant canopy and sub-canopy tree species of Sal, Chir Pine and Oak forests in Nainital district of Uttarakhand. Data analyses revealed that leaf expansion started earlier at S aspect than in the N aspect due to 1 °C greater mean annual atmospheric temperature at S aspect. The leaf traits (leaf area and leaf mass) investigated by us for the dominant canopy and sub-canopy trees across the S aspect were characterized by a significantly greater (P<0.10) leaf area and leaf mass at leaf maturity, rapid leaf expansion and gain in leaf mass in first two months of leafing . All these favourable leaf traits at S aspect has important bearing on photosynthesis, which is an important determinant of carbon accumulation in ecosystems signifying the role of aspects in forest landscape management for climate change mitigation.References
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