Physiological and morphological variation in metrosideros polymorpha, a dominant Hawaiian tree species, along an altitudinal gradient: the role of phenotypic plasticity
- Author:
-
Cordell, S., Goldstein, G., Mueller-Dombois, Dieter, Webb, D., Vitousek, Peter M.
- Title:
- Physiological and morphological variation in metrosideros polymorpha, a dominant Hawaiian tree species, along an altitudinal gradient: the role of phenotypic plasticity
- Periodical:
- Oecologia
- Year:
- 1998
- Volume:
- 113
- Pages:
- 188-196
- Subject:
-
Metrosideros polymorpha
Ohia-lehua
Phenotypic plasticity
Photosynthesis
Carbon isotope ratios
Photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency
- Summary:
- The Metrosideros Polymorpha is a dominant tree species that has long interested biologists and occupies a wide range of habitats in the Hawaiian ecosystems that are located on the island of Hawaii. As a result, ten populations of M. Polymorpha were studied in the field across a broad elevational range that is located on the wet east flanks of Mauna Loa, a shield volcano that is composed primarily of basaltic lavas, where surface flows have been extensively described, dated, and mapped. The purpose of this study was designed to understand the possible functional significance of some physiological traits of this tree species as well as to understand the morphological, foliar, and leaf anatomical characteristics of the plant populations that grows at different elevations and substrate age. This study was also done in an effort to determine if the observed differences, with regard to the form and function of the leaves, are related to the environmental conditions and to what extent they are genetically controlled.
- Label:
- Botany - Ohia
- URL:
- http://cletus.uhh.hawaii.edu:2074/10.1007/s004420050367
- Date:
- 1998
- Collection:
- Periodicals