Now showing 1 - 3 of 3
  • Publication
    Impact of genetic variation and long-term limited water availability on the ecophysiology of young Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.)
    (Oxford University Press, 2016) ;
    Future limited water availability may reduce the potential of tree improvement to increase timber yields. We investigated ecophysiological variation between full-sibling families of Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis(Bong.) Carr.) growing under contrasting water availability conditions: control (optimal) water availability and limited water availability. One-year-old seedlings of nine improved families plus an unimproved seed lot were grown in pots in a greenhouse and the two water availability treatments imposed via drip irrigation. Whole-plant water use varied between families. Stomatal conductance and the light-saturated quantum yield of photosystem II at times differed between families, but not consistently. Certain families showed considerably greater increases in electron transport rate with increasing photosynthetically active radiation. Limited water availability resulted in reduced branch water potential, leaf stomatal conductance and transpiration per unit leaf area, and increased whole-plant water-use efficiency, in all genetic material. The responses of plant water use and leaf carbon isotope composition to water limitation, were, however, initially influenced by variation in vigour between families¿with conservative growth in some material slowing the decline in substrate moisture content. As the duration of water deficit extended, these variables showed a more uniform response across families. Between-family variation in physiological mechanisms of drought tolerance was not detected. Thus, for Sitka spruce, assessing juvenile material may not allow selection to prevent reductions in productivity associated with long-term sub-optimal growing conditions, but screening for conservative growth (within families as well as between families) may be beneficial where survival of relatively short-term water limitation is the primary concern.
    Scopus© Citations 2  338
  • Publication
    Effect of deployment-type on stem growth, biomass partitioning and crown characteristics of juvenile Sitka spruce clones
    (The Finnish Society of Forest Science, 2017-01-31) ; ;
    Competitive interactions in clonal forestry are not well understood and this needs to be addressed to develop better deployment strategies. Eight juvenile Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carriére) clones were grown in monoclonal and clonal mixtures in a field experiment for three years to assess the effects of genetic diversity on shoot growth, above- and below-ground biomass partitioning and crown characteristics. Shoot elongation was measured throughout the growing season, while diameter was measured twice annually in May and December. After the third year, crown silhouette area was estimated from digitised images for one ramet per plot and ramets were then destructively harvested. Deployment × clone interactions were observed for tree height and diameter with reductions observed in mixed plots. Mixed plots had significantly greater height and diameter heterogeneity and more asymmetrical competition than monoclonal plots. Results from this study demonstrate that stem growth can be significantly altered when clones are planted in multi-clonal mixtures but for most clones, deployment-type will not significantly reduce their productivity.
      411
  • Publication
    An in vivo root hair assay for determining rates of apoptotic-like programmed cell death in plants
    In Arabidopsis thaliana we demonstrate that dying root hairs provide an easy and rapid in vivo model for the morphological identification of apoptotic-like programmed cell death in plants. The model described here is transferable between the species, can be used to investigate the rates of AL-PCD in response to various treatments and to identify modulation of AL-PCD rates in mutant/transgenic plant lines facilitating rapid screening of mutant populations in order to identify genes involved in AL-PCD regulation
    Scopus© Citations 32  518