• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제33권3호
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• pp.253-260
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• 2010

It has been well established that leaf longevity is linked to the carbon economy of plants. We used this relationship to predict leaf lifetime carbon gains from leaf lifespan, and estimated the gross primary production (GPP) of a young deciduous forest of Japanese beech (Fagus crenata) located in central Japan. The light-saturated photosynthetic rates of the leaves were measured repeatedly during the growing season. We used the leaf lifespan to calculate the conversion coefficient from the light-saturated photosynthetic rate into the realized leaf lifetime carbon gain under field conditions. The leaf turnover rate was estimated using litter traps. GPP was estimated as the product of lifetime carbon gain per unit of leaf mass, and the annual leaf turnover rate. The GPP of the forest in 2007 was estimated to be $1.2{\times}10^3gCm^{-2}y^{-1}$, which was within the range of previously reported GPP values of beech forests in Japan, and was close to the GPP of a European beech forest, as estimated by eddy flux measurements.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제31권3호
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• pp.207-211
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• 2008

We investigated the leaf demography of a temperate woody liana, Akebia trifoliata, in a temperate forest in Japan, Akebia is semi-evergreen: some leaves are shed before winter, while others remain through the winter. Previous studies of semi-evergreen species found that variation in leaf life span was caused by variation in the timing of leaf emergence, Leaves that appeared just before winter over-wintered, while leaves appearing earlier were shed, However, it is unclear whether leaves of the same cohort (i.e., leaves that appear at the same time within a single site) show variation in life span under the effect of strong seasonality. To separate variation in life span among the leaves in each cohort from variation among cohorts, we propose a new method - the single leaf diagram, which shows the emergence and death of each leaf. Using single leaf diagrams, our study revealed that Akebia leaves within a cohort showed substantial variation in life span, with some over-wintering and some not. In addition, leaves on small ramets in the understory showed great variation in life span, while leaves on large ramets, which typically reach higher positions in the forest canopy, have shorter lives, As a result, small ramets were semi-evergreen, whereas large ramets were deciduous, The longer lives of leaves on small ramets can be interpreted as a shade-adaptive strategy in understory plants.

• ALGAE
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• 제23권1호
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• pp.75-81
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• 2008

The epiphytic diatom flora living on leaf tissues of Zostera marina, Z. japonica and Z. caespitosa at three study sites (Dadae, Gabae, and Jangmok) located in Geoje Island has been examined from July 2001 to March 2002 bimonthly. Total 81 species in 26 genera of diatoms have been observed on leaf tissues of the 3 Zostera species throughout the present study. Cocconeis spp. were predominant on Z. japonica, whereas Navicula spp. and Nitzschia spp. were predominant on Z. marina and Z. caespitosa. The community structure of the diatom assemblages varied according to the seagrass species. Species compositions of epiphytic diatoms appear to be closely related to morphology and lifespan of seagrasses.