ALBERT

Beschreibung: The relationships between foliage area and sapwood area between trees and within the crowns of 20 Piceasitchensis (Bong.) Carr., provenance Queen Charlotte Island, British Columbia (10 in a control plot and 10 in a plot fertilized with potassium and phosphorus 8 years before harvest) and 10 Pinuscontorta Dougl., provenance Ladysmith trees were examined using a physiological analysis based on Darcy's law. Foliage area index on the fertilized P. sitchensis plot was higher than on the control. The variation of foliage area density with depth in the canopies followed a normal distribution. Relationships between foliage area and sapwood basal area were linear but the slopes were different for the two species. There was no significant difference between the control and fertilized P. sitchensis trees. The relationship between foliage area and the product of sapwood area and permeability was linear and data from the three plots fell on the same line. Sapwood area, permeability, and their product decreased with depth through the crowns of the trees. Within the crowns, relationships between cumulative foliage area and sapwood area, and between cumulative foliage area and the product of sapwood area × permeability were different with species and treatment. A single linear relationship resulted when the product of cumulative foliage area above an internode × the internode length was plotted against sapwood area × permeability for the internode. This suggests that it is the drop in potential across a node and internode rather than the gradient of potential across the internode that is related to the flux of water through tree crowns. The data support the hypothesis that the relationship between foliage area and sapwood area depends on permeability of the sapwood and the local climate through its influence on transpiration rate, particularly via average water vapour pressure deficit of the air and stomatal conductance.

Beschreibung: Stomatal conductance was measured with porometers in two plots of Pinussylvestris L. with markedly different tree spacings (plot 1, 608 stems ha−1; plot 2, 3281 stems ha−1), and hourly rates of transpiration were calculated using the Penman–Monteith equation at intervals throughout one growing season. Stomatal conductance varied little in relation to height or age of foliage. There was a linear decrease in canopy conductance with increasing water vapour pressure deficit of the air. Transpiration rates on both plots increased during the summer (maximum 0.3 mm h−1); rates on plot 1 were always lower (ca. 0.7 times) than on plot 2. Needle water potentials were similar throughout the season and only slightly lower on plot 1 than on plot 2. The mean hydraulic resistance of the trees on plot 1 was 2.4 times that on plot 2. The results support a hypothesis that considers the changes in transpiration rate, conducting cross-sectional area, canopy leaf area, water potential, and hydraulic resistance following thinning as a set of homeostatic relationships.

Beschreibung: The Penman–Monteith equation was used with measured values of stomatal conductance and leaf area, in conjunction with weather station measurements of net radiation, vapor pressure deficit, and wind speed to calculate the transpiration rates of two Scots pine (Pinussylvestris L.) stands of widely different densities. Transpiration was compared with water uptake estimated from 32P radioisotope movement through trees of known conducting area and water content. Uptake consistently lagged behind transpiration throughout the day. From dawn to dawn, however, uptake and transpiration were in close agreement as a result of recharge during the night.