[Physiological and growth responses of Sabina vulgaris to disturbance of leaf removal].
To examine the physiological and growth responses to Sabina vulgaris to natural disturbance, a field experiment to simulate the grazing and pest disturbance was conducted in Maowusu sandy land through artificially removing leaves. The disturbance of leaf removal could modify the species' diurnal physiological dynamics through changing the timing of extreme values, and moreover, change the average daily values of physiological indexes significantly. Leaf removal could affect the growth traits, but not biomass allocation significantly. The consequences of the disturbance were confined by its means and intensity, and there existed significant differences in sensitivity of different physiological and growth characteristics e.g., net photosynthesis rate and transpiration rate to leaf removal. The disturbance of leaf removal, especially that of old leaf removal, had compensation effects. Therefore, moderately removing the leaves on the shoots with less than 2 years old could enhance the growth and the biomass accumulation of current-year shoots.
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Laboratory of Quantitative Vegetation Ecology, Institute of Botany, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100093.
D014197:Trees / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*