Effect of aboveground competition on biomass partitioning of understory Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis)

Abstract

Competition is an important factor in biology and plant鄄plant interactions has inspired an increasing concern in recent years. In plant communities, competition is defined as the interaction between individuals, brought about by limited resources. Aboveground competition is usually size鄄asymmetric: the bigger individuals have a disproportionate advantage in competing for light than the smaller ones. This study deals with biomass allocation patterns and aboveground competition influences on biomass partitioning and allometric equations of understory Korean pine (Pinus koraiensis). The results will contribute to understanding the mechanisms of aboveground competition and provide a theoretical guide for effective utilization and protection of Korean pine. The results show that: (1) When dividing live crown into three equal layers (top, middle and bottom) , live branch biomass increased from the top to the bottom layer, while needle biomass was highest in the middle and bottom layers of the crown. However, there was no significant difference between the needle biomass located at the middle and bottom layers (P > 0. 05). The relative proportion of coarse root (> 5 mm) biomass increased while that of small fine root (<2 mm) and coarse fine root (2-5 mm) biomass both decreased with increasing

Effects of Tree Competition on Biomass Allocation of Stump and Coarse Roots of Larix olgensis of Different Site Classes

“…Wang Jinsong (Wang Jinsong et al, 2012) found that with the increase in the competition index, the proportion of branch and leaf biomass increased, and the proportion of coarse roots in the whole plant biomass tended to decrease, but the change range was small, and the whole root-shoot ratio was not affected by shoot competition. This indicates that the increase in the proportion of shoot and leaf biomass may be mainly at the expense of the decrease in trunk biomass [44]. On the basis of this study, we further determined that competition would reduce the proportion of coarse root biomass larger than 10 cm in diameter; this is related to the large proportion of coarse root biomass with a diameter greater than 10 cm [39].…”