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Radial variations in wood functional traits in a rain forest from eastern Amazonia

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Abstract

Key message

Positive radial trends in WSG were common among light-demanding species, and were mainly explained by radial shift in fiber and parenchyma traits.

Abstract

Trees can modify their wood structure in response to changes in mechanical, hydraulic and storage demands during their life-cycles. Thus, examining radial variations in wood traits is important to expand our knowledge of tree functioning and species ecological strategies. Yet, several aspects of radial changes in wood functional traits are still poorly understood, especially in angiosperm trees from tropical humid forests. Here, we examined radial shifts in wood traits in trunks of tropical forest species and explored their potential ecological implications. We first examined radial variations in wood specific gravity (WSG). Then, we asked what anatomical traits drove radial variations in WSG, and whether WSG, vessel fraction and specific hydraulic conductivity vary independently from each other along the radius gradients. We measured WSG and eight wood anatomical traits, at different radial positions along the trunks, in 19 tree species with contrasting shade-tolerance from a lowland tropical forest in eastern Amazonia. Most species had significant radials shifts in WSG. Positive radial gradients in WSG (i.e., increments from pith to bark) were common among shade-intolerant species and were explained by different combinations of fiber and parenchyma traits, while negative radial shifts in WSG (e.g., decreases towards the bark) were present in shade-tolerants, but were generally weakly related to anatomical traits. We also found that, in general, WSG was unrelated to vessel fraction and specific hydraulic conductivity in any radial position. This study illustrates the contrasting radial variations in wood functional traits that occur in tree species from a humid lowland tropical forest. In particular, our results provide valuable insights into the anatomical traits driving WSG variations during tree development. These insights are important to expand our knowledge on tree ecological strategies by providing evidence on how wood allocation varies as trees grow, which in turn can be useful in studying trait-demography associations, and in estimating tree above-ground biomass.

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Availability of data

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available in the OSF repository, [ https://doi.org/10.17605/OSF.IO/HS3MA].

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Acknowledgements

We are very grateful to Jonathan Prunier for laboratory and field support, and to Pascal Petronelli for his help with botanical identification. We kindly thank Soepe Koese for his help collecting and preparing the wood samples. We would also like to thank Camila Monje and Laura Baldion who assisted in processing anatomical images, and to Julie Bossu for providing some wood samples. The study was designed by A.G.M., J.M.P., B.C. and J.B. Most wood samples were collected by R.L. and A.G.M. Additional samples were provided by B.C., J.B. and S.L. Anatomical images were processed by A.G.M. and K.R. Data analyses were performed by A.G.M. with contributions from J.M.P. The first draft of the manuscript was written by A.G.M. with inputs from J.M.P. All authors contributed equally to the writing and interpretation of advanced versions of the manuscript.

Funding

This study was funded by a student grant awarded to A.G.M by COLCIENCIAS (Colombian Agency for Science and Technology. Grant 476), and a field grant from the University of Guyane in the framework of the Erasmus + Program. We know of no conflicts of interest associated to this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Biology Department, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Universidad del Rosario, Carrera 24 # 63C-69, 111221, Bogotá, Colombia

    Andrés González-Melo & Juan Manuel Posada

  2. CIRAD, UMR Ecologie des Forêts de Guyane (EcoFoG), AgroParisTech, CNRS, INRA, Université Des Antilles, Université de Guyane, 97310, Cayenne, France

    Jacques Beauchêne

  3. Laboratory of Wood Technology, Department of Environment, UGent-Woodlab, Ghent University, Coupure Links 653, 9000, Ghent, Belgium

    Romain Lehnebach

  4. CNRS, UMR EcoFoG, AgroParisTech, CIRAD, INRAE, Université des Antilles, Université de Guyane, 97310, Kourou, France

    Sébastien Levionnois & Bruno Clair

  5. AMAP, Univ. Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRAE, IRD, 34000, Montpellier, France

    Sébastien Levionnois

  6. Programa de Ingeniería Forestal, Universidad Distrital Francisco José de Caldas, Avenida Circunvalar con Venado de Oro, Bogotá, Colombia

    Katherine Rivera

  7. LMGC, CNRS, Université de Montpellier, 34090, Montpellier, France

    Bruno Clair

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  1. Andrés González-Melo
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González-Melo, A., Posada, J.M., Beauchêne, J. et al. Radial variations in wood functional traits in a rain forest from eastern Amazonia. Trees 36, 569–581 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-021-02229-1

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