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Belowground Carbohydrate Reserves of Mature Southern Pines Reflect Seedling Strategy to Evolutionary History of Disturbance

Journal Article · · Forests
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3390/f9100653· OSTI ID:1829085
 [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Georgia Southern Univ., Statesboro, GA (United States); SREL
  2. USDA Forest Service, Southern Research Station, Athens, GA (United States)
  3. Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Ecology Lab. (SREL); Univ. of Georgia, Athens, GA (United States)
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Carbohydrate reserves provide advantages for mature trees experiencing frequent disturbances; however, it is unclear if selective pressures operate on this characteristic at the seedling or mature life history stage. We hypothesized that natural selection has favored carbohydrate reserves in species that have an evolutionary history of frequent disturbance and tested this using three southern pine species that have evolved across a continuum of fire frequencies. Longleaf pine (Pinus palustris) roots exhibited higher maximum starch concentrations than slash (P. elliottii) and loblolly (P. taeda), which were similar. Longleaf also relied on starch reserves in roots more than slash or loblolly, depleting 64, 41, and 23 mg g-1 of starch, respectively, between seasonal maximum and minimum, which represented 52%, 45%, and 26% of reserves, respectively. Starch reserves in stems did not differ among species or exhibit temporal dynamics. Our results suggest that an evolutionary history of disturbance partly explains patterns of carbohydrate reserves observed in southern pines. However, similarities between slash and loblolly indicate that carbohydrate reserves do not strictly follow the continuum of disturbance frequencies among southern pine, but rather reflect the different seedling strategies exhibited by longleaf compared to those shared by slash and loblolly. We propose that the increased carbohydrate reserves in mature longleaf may simply be a relic of selective pressures imposed at the juvenile stage that are maintained through development, thus allowing mature trees to be more resilient and to recover from chronic disturbances such as frequent fire.
Research Organization:
Savannah River Site (SRS), Aiken, SC (United States). Savannah River Ecology Lab. (SREL)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Artificial Intelligence and Technology (AITO)
Grant/Contract Number:
FC09-07SR22506
OSTI ID:
1829085
Journal Information:
Forests, Journal Name: Forests Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 9; ISSN 1999-4907
Publisher:
MDPICopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Related Subjects

59 BASIC BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES
fire
non-structural carbohydrates
roots
starch
stored carbon