Life Sciences Commons^™

Factors Influencing Net Primary Production In Red Spruce, Michael Day

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Management of forest resources, even when practiced at the scale of ecosystems, is implicitly based on managing photosynthetic acquisition of carbon by trees. This thesis examines several aspects of carbon balance at the scale of individual trees, using red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) as a model species. Age-related declines in net primary productivity have been described for many species, including red spruce. A potential explanation is that ontogenetic changes in meristems lead to lower photosynthetic rates, which was confirmed here for red spruce. A grafting study used scions from juvenile, 6Oy, and 120~ trees to demonstrate that age-related morphological …