Title: The Relationships of Internal Structure of Twig in Female and Male Populus cathayana
Abstract: The relationships between twig size and leaf size,lamina size and petiole size have been studied in non dioecious plants. Our objectives are to test if these relationships also exist in dioecious plants. The research object of dioecious species is Populus cathayana in Xiaowutai Mountains National Nature Reserve,north China. We sampled twigs from 40 plants( including 20 female and 20 male individuals,respectively). Leaf size,leaf number and twig size were measured for each plant in August 2012. The results showed that the relationships between leaf size and twig mass,leaf size and twig cross-sectional area,leaf size and petiole size were positively correlated,respectively. Leaf number and individual leaf mass had significantly negative relationship in female,but was not significant in male. Our results indicated that leaf area increase rate in females was greater than that in males at the twig level,reflecting that the females had the functional adaptation at the aspect of leaf growing in order to meet the accumulation of reproductive costs.
Publication Year: 2014
Publication Date: 2014-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
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