AOBPreview originally published online on September 12, 2005
Annals of Botany 2005 96(6):1075-1084; doi:10.1093/aob/mci258
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Bud Composition, Branching Patterns and Leaf Phenology in Cerrado Woody Species
1 Universidad Nacional del Comahue, Departamento de Ecología, Quintral 1250, (8400) San Carlos de Bariloche, Argentina and 2 Universidade Federal de São Carlos, Centro de Ciências Biológicas e da Saúde, Departamento de Botânica, Laboratório de Fisiologia Vegetal, 13565-905 São Carlos, São Paulo, Brasil
* For correspondence. E-mail damascos{at}crub.uncoma.edu.ar
Received: 4 April 2005 Returned for revision: 3 May 2005 Accepted: 20 July 2005 Published electronically: 12 September 2005
• Background and Aims Plants have complex mechanisms of aerial biomass exposition, which depend on bud composition, the period of the year in which shoot extension occurs, branching pattern, foliage persistence, herbivory and environmental conditions.
• Methods The influence of water availability and temperature on shoot growth, the bud composition, the leaf phenology, and the relationship between partial leaf fall and branching were evaluated over 3 years in Cerrado woody species Bauhinia rufa (BR), Leandra lacunosa (LL) and Miconia albicans (MA).
• Key Results Deciduous BR preformed organs in buds and leaves flush synchronously at the transition from the dry to the wet season. The expansion time of leaves is <1 month. Main shoots (first-order axis, A1 shoots) extended over 30 d and they did not branch. BR budding and foliage unfolds were brought about independently of inter-annual rainfall variations. By contrast, in LL and MA evergreen species, the shoot extension rate and the neoformation of aerial organs depended on rainfall. Leaf emergence was continuous for 2–6 months and lamina expansion took place over 1–4 months. The leaf life span was 5–20 months and the main A1 shoot extension happened over 122–177 d. Both evergreen species allocated biomass to shoots, leaves or flowers continuously during the year, branching in the middle of the wet season to form second-order (A2 shoots) and third-order (A3 shoots) axis in LL and A2 shoots in MA. Partial shed of A1 shoot leaves would facilitate a higher branching intensity A2 shoot production in LL than in MA. MA presented a longer leaf life span, produced a lower percentage of A2 shoots but had a higher meristem persistence on A1 and A2 shoots than LL.
• Conclusions It was possible to identify different patterns of aerial growth in Cerrado woody species defined by shoot-linked traits such as branching pattern, bud composition, meristem persistence and leaf phenology. These related traits must be considered over and above leaf deciduousness for searching functional guilds in a Cerrado woody community. For the first time a relationship between bud composition, shoot growth and leaf production pattern is found in savanna woody plants.
Key words: Bauhinia rufa, branching, Brazil, bud composition, Cerrado, flowering, leaf phenology, Leandra lacunosa, meristem persistence, Miconia albicans, synchronic leaves production, continuous leaf production
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