Summary: A study published in the magazine Nature showed that, despite popular belief, most older trees gain more mass each year than younger trees. In the study of 403 species and 673,046 trees, 97% of the cases showed the result that the older trees gained more mass. Although these trees add more mass, they are less efficient than the younger trees. The fact that bigger trees have more leaves makes up for the decline in efficiency. The leaves are so relevant to this study because they are the sections of the tree that is mainly photosynthetic. Carbon, which is part of the product of photosynthesis, is the main source of mass in trees. The big trees also have more surface area on which wood is added each year in rings.
Connection: This article connects to our unit on plants, and more specifically their growth. There is also a connection to the unit on photosynthesis and cellular respiration. There are references to the growth of tree rings and leaf function in the article, both of which were topics in this past unit.
Author: Jeff Tollefson
Date: January 14 2014
URL: http://www.nature.com/news/tree-growth-never-slows-1.14536
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What do you mean when you say that large trees are less efficient than smaller ones?
ReplyDeleteHow are larger trees less efficient than smaller trees. In what way?
ReplyDeleteThe larger trees make less carbon molecules per leaf, but the fact that they have more leaves accounts for greater mass they add on.
ReplyDelete