Research Article

Leaf Serration in Seedlings of Heteroblastic Woody Species Enhance Plasticity and Performance in Gaps But Not in the Understory

Table 1

Summary of significant differences of the nested analysis of variances for seedling growth, leaf morphological, physiological, and anatomical traits. Measures were taken from fifteen seedlings/species for growth and leaf morphology while nine seedlings/species were used for leaf physiology and anatomy from canopy gap and forest understory sites. Species was coded as either homoblasty or heteroblasty. Degree of significance: , , . There was no significant differences across sties.

LightGeneraSpeciesLight GeneraLight Genera Species (Genera)

Growth traits
 Height increment **** ns ns ***
 Number of branches ****** *** ** ***
 Total dry mass ****** *** *** ***
 Biomass allocation ns*** *** ns *
 (leaves, shoots, roots)
Leaf morphological traits
 Number of leaves ****** *** * ***
 Leaf size ***** *** ns ***
 Specific leaf area ***ns *** ns ***
Total leaf area **** *** *** ***
Leaf physiological traits
 Max. photosynthetic rate ***ns *** ns ***
 (unit leaf area)
 Max. photosynthetic rate ***ns ** ns **
 (unit leaf mass)
 Stomatal conductance **** *** * ***
Leaf anatomical traits
 Leaf blade thickness ****** *** *** ***
 Cuticle thickness ****** *** ** ***
 Upper epidermis thickness ****** *** *** ***
 Palisade mesophyll thickness ****** *** ns ***
 Lower epidermis thickness ****** *** ns ***
 Stomatal pore area (density aperture length) ****** *** *** ***