School of Biological Sciences, Monash University, Victoria 3800, Australia.
Am J Bot. 2011 Nov;98(11):1762-72. doi: 10.3732/ajb.1100080. Epub 2011 Oct 7.
New Caledonia commonly experiences cyclones, so trees there are expected to have enhanced wood traits and trunk allometry that confer resistance to wind damage. We ask whether there is evidence of a trade-off between these traits and growth rate among species.
Wood traits, including density, microfibril angle (MFA), and modulus of elasticity (MOE), ratio of tree height to stem diameter, and growth rate were investigated in mature trees of 15 co-occurring canopy species in a New Caledonian rainforest.
In contrast to some studies, wood density did not correlate negatively with growth increment. Among angiosperms, wood density and MOE correlated positively with diameter-adjusted tree height, and MOE correlated positively with stem-diameter growth increment. Tall slender trees achieved high stiffness with high efficiency with respect to wood density, in part by low MFA, and with a higher diameter growth increment but a lower buckling safety factor. However, some tree species of a similar niche differed in whole-tree resistance to wind damage and achieved wood stiffness in different ways.
There was no evidence of a growth-safety trade-off in these trees. In forests that regularly experience cyclones, there may be stronger selection for high wood density and/or stiffness in fast-growing trees of the upper canopy, with the potential growth trade-off amortized by access to the upper canopy and by other plant traits. Furthermore, decreasing wood density does not necessarily decrease resistance to wind damage, resistance being influenced by other characteristics including cell-level traits (e.g., MFA) and whole-plant architecture.
新喀里多尼亚经常遭受旋风的侵袭，因此那里的树木预计会具有增强的木材特性和树干异速生长，从而能够抵御风害。我们想知道，在这些特性和物种的生长速度之间是否存在权衡。
在新喀里多尼亚雨林中，对 15 种共存树冠物种的成熟树木进行了木材特性（包括密度、微纤丝角（MFA）和弹性模量（MOE））、树高与茎直径比以及生长速度的研究。
与一些研究相反，木材密度与生长增量并没有负相关。在被子植物中，木材密度和 MOE 与直径调整后的树高呈正相关，而 MOE 与茎直径生长增量呈正相关。高大细长的树木通过低 MFA 实现了高效率的高刚性，具有较高的直径生长增量和较低的失稳安全系数。然而，一些具有相似生态位的树种在抗风能力方面存在差异，它们通过不同的方式实现了木材的刚性。
这些树木没有表现出生长-安全权衡的迹象。在经常遭受旋风侵袭的森林中，在上层树冠中快速生长的树木可能会受到更高的木材密度和/或刚性的更强选择，通过进入上层树冠和其他植物特性来减轻潜在的生长权衡。此外，降低木材密度不一定会降低抗风能力，阻力还受到包括细胞水平特性（如 MFA）和整株植物结构在内的其他特性的影响。
