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AOBPreview published online on July 25, 2005
Annals of Botany, doi:10.1093/aob/mci231
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© The Author 2005. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oupjournals.org
Received April 11, 2005
Revised May 10, 2005
Accepted June 2, 2005

Article

Phenotypic Plasticity of Growth Trajectory and Ontogenic Allometry in Response to Density for Eucalyptus Hybrid Clones and Families

JEAN-MARC BOUVET 1*, PHILIPPE VIGNERON 1, and AUBIN SAYA 2

1 Cirad--Forest Department--Research Unit 39 "Diversity and Breeding of Forest Tree Species" TA 10C, Campus International de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex, France
2 Research Unit on Plantation Productivity UR2PI, BP 1291, Pointe-Noire, Republic of Congo

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
JEAN-MARC BOUVET, E-mail: jean-marc.bouvet{at}cirad.fr


  Abstract

• Background and Aims Response to density is a crucial aspect of the ecology of trees in forests and plantations. Few studies have investigated the genetics of plasticity in response to density for growth traits such as height and circumference through development.

• Methods Two experiments were carried out in the field, the first with full-sib families of Eucalyptus urophylla x E. grandis hybrids, and the second with clones of E. tereticornis x E. grandis hybrids planted across a range of densities (625, 1111 and 2500 trees ha-1). Height, circumference and stem taper were measured through development in both experiments. Variance components were estimated and a repeated measure approach for plasticity and three different methods were used to compare the variance-covariance matrix across densities.

• Key Results Genetic variance was significantly different from zero but the density x genotype interaction was significant only for clone experiments at the adult stage. Significant plasticity for three traits in both experiments was found. In the clone experiments, a significant clone x time x density interaction was found, suggesting that plasticity for growth and stem form is under genetic control. In both experiments, density did not affect environmental correlation, which remained high throughout tree development. The impact of density on genetic correlation was marked in the clone experiment, with a reduced value at lower density, but was not observed in the family trial. The differences between clones and family are mainly explained by the distribution of genetic variation within and among genotypes.

• Conclusions The results suggest that plasticity for growth traits and form of tropical Eucalyptus species is under genetic control and that the environment changes genetic co-variation through ontogeny. The findings confirm that a tree population with a narrow genetic basis (represented by clones) is sensitive to a changing environment, whereas a population with a broader genetic basis (full-sib family here) exhibits a more stable reaction.

Keywords: Height, circumference, growth trajectory, allometry, density, phenotypic plasticity, variance components, correlation, Eucalyptus, hybrid, clones, full-sib family.
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