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Development of an Individual-Tree Basal Area Increment Model using a Linear Mixed-Effects Approach
Published on: July 3, 2020
Functional responses to increasing tree height within and between trees and their potential drivers.
Elisa Spennati1,2, Maurizio Mencuccini3,2, José Alberto Ramírez-Valiente4
1Dipartimento di Biologia Ambientale, Sapienza Università di Roma, Rome, Italy.
Annals of Botany
|May 21, 2026
Summary
Tree height influences functional traits, primarily due to water limitations in taller trees and radiation in upper canopies. These adjustments vary across species and ecosystems, impacting gas exchange and water potential.
Area of Science:
- Plant physiology
- Ecology
- Forest science
Background:
- Trees exhibit vertical crown profile adjustments in response to hydraulic limitations and environmental factors.
- General patterns and primary drivers of these trait adjustments across species and ecosystems remain unclear.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate general patterns in key functional trait variation with tree height across 101 species and 119 sites.
- To determine if these patterns reflect trait adjustments to environmental factors associated with tree height.
Main Methods:
- Examined height-related phenotypic adjustments in hydraulic and carbon-economy traits at conspecific and within-tree crown scales.
- Assessed trait variation along tree height against global datasets of environmental factors (radiation, nutrients, water, temperature).
Main Results:
- Taller trees and upper canopies showed reduced water potential, specific leaf area, assimilation rates, and stomatal conductance.
- Trait variation along tree height mirrored responses to drought (water limitation) and increased radiation.
- Temperature did not significantly affect trait variation.
Conclusions:
- Leaf economics trait variation in taller trees is mainly driven by water limitation.
- Within-tree variation in upper canopies is primarily associated with radiation.
- Future climate change may intensify these effects, with unresolved adaptive capacities across diverse ecosystems.
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