Effects of water and nutrient addition on the coppice growth response of cut Terminalia sericea

Koedoe - African Protected Area Conservation and Science

 
 
Field Value
 
Title Effects of water and nutrient addition on the coppice growth response of cut Terminalia sericea
 
Creator Moyo, Hloniphani Scholes, Mary C. Twine, Wayne
 
Subject conservation ecology, plant ecophysiology Replenishing; resprouting; supplementing; South Africa; total non-structural carbohydrates
Description The ability of a woody plant to coppice and remain vigorous largely depends on the severity of disturbances, resource availability and the mobilisation of stored reserves. There is limited information about the role played by resource limitation on the recovery of cut trees. This study investigated the effects of water and nutrient supplementation on coppice growth responses of resprouting cut trees in a semi-arid savannah in South Africa. Cut trees were exposed to different levels of water and nutrient (nitrogen and phosphorus) supplementation over a period of 2 years in a factorial experimental design. We hypothesised that adding water and nutrients would result in an increased coppice growth response and replenishment of stored structural reserves. Adding water and nutrients significantly increased shoot diameter, shoot length and resprouting ratio for the initial 12 months after cutting but not stored structural reserves. Such a response pattern suggests that the initial growth of resprouting shoots may be strongly resource-limited, while resources are concentrated on supporting fewer resprouting shoots compared to a higher number.Conservation implications: If practicing rotational tree harvesting, trees resprouting in resource-poor locations need a longer resting period to recover stored reserves and to also recover lost height after cutting.
 
Publisher AOSIS Publishing
 
Contributor
Date 2016-07-22
 
Type info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion — plot methods
Format text/html application/octet-stream text/xml application/pdf
Identifier 10.4102/koedoe.v58i1.1371
 
Source Koedoe; Vol 58, No 1 (2016); 10 pages 2071-0771 0075-6458
 
Language eng
 
Relation
The following web links (URLs) may trigger a file download or direct you to an alternative webpage to gain access to a publication file format of the published article:

https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1371/1907 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1371/1908 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1371/1909 https://koedoe.co.za/index.php/koedoe/article/view/1371/1885
 
Coverage South Africa, protected areas, communal areas — total counts
Rights Copyright (c) 2016 Hloniphani Moyo, Mary C. Scholes, Wayne Twine https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0
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