Non-structural carbohydrates and morphological traits of leaves, stems and roots from tree species in different climates

Abstract

Objectives Carbon fixed during photosynthesis is exported from leaves towards sink organs as non-structural carbohydrates (NSC), that are a key energy source for metabolic processes in trees. In xylem, NSC are mostly stored as soluble sugars and starch in radial and axial parenchyma. The multi-functional nature of xylem means that cells possess several functions, including water transport, storage and mechanical support. Little is known about how NSC impacts xylem multi-functionality, nor how NSC vary among species and climates. We collected leaves, stem and root xylem from tree species growing in three climates and estimated NSC in each organ. We also measured xylem traits linked to hydraulic and mechanical functioning. Data description The paper describes functional traits in leaves, stems and roots, including NSC, carbon, nitrogen, specific leaf area, stem and root wood density and xylem traits. Data are provided for up to 90 angiosperm species from temperate, Mediterranean and tropical climates. These data are useful for understanding the trade-offs in resource allocation from a whole-plant perspective, and to better quantify xylem structure and function related to water transportation, mechanical support and storage. Data will also give researchers keys to understanding the ability of trees to adjust to a changing climate.

Functional trade‐offs are driven by coordinated changes among cell types in the wood of angiosperm trees from different climates

“…Dried samples were ground into powder using a ball mill (Retsch MM400; Retsch, Haan, Germany), and the ground samples were stored in sealed plastic tubes until analysis. Due to the large number of samples ( n = 360), we used the near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS; Batten et al ., 1993) method to develop a model for predicting NSC contents in different organs (Zhang et al ., 2022a). The NIRS method has been used successfully in plant ecology for predicting NSC content in different tissue types of a broad range of tree species (Ramirez et al ., 2015; Rosado et al ., 2019).…”

“…Partial least squares regression (PLSR) was used to develop calibrations for the predictions of SS and starch content for stem and root samples separately (Zhang et al ., 2022a). The calibration R 2 , standard error and root mean square error of cross‐validation values are shown in Table S3.…”

“…com/). A total of 60 angiosperm species were selected, with 20 species in each climate, spanning 43 genera and 32 families (Table S2; Zhang et al, 2022a). The selected tree species are commonly found in these forests and represent their dominance to a certain extent.…”

“…As this study is part of a larger study, where NIRS was used to develop a model for predicting NSC in organs of 90 tree species (Zhang et al, 2022a), we were able to create robust models using this larger dataset. First, 113 samples of stem and 140 samples of root were selected, for which values represented a broad range of data.…”

Not all sweetness and light: Non‐structural carbohydrate storage capacity in tree stems is decoupled from leaf but not from root economics

“…Therefore, we used the near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) method to predict NSC, carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) content (Ramirez et al., 2015). Near‐infrared spectra were first obtained for all samples on powders previously stabilized in a conditioning room at a temperature of 20 ± 2°C and air humidity of 65 ± 5% (methods described by Zhang et al., 2022).…”