[Seminar] General patterns in biomass allocation and allometry among higher plants

Seminar

Title: General patterns in biomass allocation and allometry among higher plants

Speaker: Hendrik Poorter,

Affiliation: Forschungszentrum Juelich GmbH

Host: Nelson Saibo
 

 
Abstract:

It is well-known that plants may adjust the distribution of biomass over leaves, stems and roots depending on environmental conditions. It is also clear that size is an important factor as well. However, good quantitative insights are lacking. In this talk I analyse biomass allocation patterns to leaves, stems and roots of herbs and woody species. A database was compiled with ~11.000 records of leaf, stem and root biomass for ~1200 species. First, I'll derive general dose-response curves that describe the relationship between biomass allocation and the 12 most important a-biotic environmental factors and compare them with the changes in leaf, stem and root morphology. Second, I'll focus on allometric relationships between the various organs and test to what extent they comply with models like that for Metabolic Scaling Theory, where the slope of the log-log relationship between leaf and root biomass is expected to have a value of ¾.  Third, I analyse how leaf, stem and root mass fractions change as a function of total plant size. This offers a great opportunity to test to what extent there are systematic differences in allocation patterns related to phylogeny (e.g. Gymnosperms vs. Angiosperms) and functional group (e.g. deciduous vs. evergreens).

Poorter et al. (2012) Biomass allocation to leaves, stems and roots: meta‐analyses of interspecific variation and environmental control. New Phytol. 193: 30-50.

Poorter & Sack (2012) Pitfalls and possibilities in the analysis of biomass allocation patterns in plants. Front. Plant Sci. 3: 259.

Poorter et al. (2015) How does biomass distribution change with size and differ among species? New Phytol. 208: 736-749.