Live fast; die young: carbon balance as a mechanism for shade intolerance (2015)

Undergraduates: Alexander Brown, Robert Heckman

Faculty Advisor: Charles Mitchell
Department: Biology

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Shade intolerance may be caused by inability to tolerate carbon loss when carbon gain is limited by low light. We manipulated light and nitrogen availability, and carbon loss (fungal enemies, leaf clipping) in a shade intolerant tree, Liquidambar styraciflua. Light and nitrogen availability each affected foliar fungal damage independently and interacted to affect aboveground biomass. Surprisingly, plant growth responded similarly to leaf clipping regardless of light and nitrogen availability. These results suggest that L. styraciflua is better able to tolerate carbon loss than expected for a species considered shade intolerant.