Submitted by Gizele Lima (gizele.lima@inpa.gov.br) on 2017-06-19T13:53:15Z No. of bitstreams: 2 2016_10_18_Dissertação_LuizaCosme.pdf: 1416222 bytes, checksum: 54f85e213133bb0455bb2a8d4098f181 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-06-19T13:53:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 2016_10_18_Dissertação_LuizaCosme.pdf: 1416222 bytes, checksum: 54f85e213133bb0455bb2a8d4098f181 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2016-05-31 / Conselho Nacional de Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico - CNPq / Environmental filters act directly on the distribution and composition of species. However, it is not known how soil and belowground hydric conditions are related to hydraulic characteristics of the xylem, branches and of the whole plant on a local scale. We examined wood density and anatomy, height, leaf area, specific leaf area, and the leaf area:sapwood area ratio at the branch level in valleys and plateaus of the terra-firme forest in Central Amazonia. These environments present contrasting table water depths and soil textures. We measure 20 traits related to branches, stem, and whole plant in 28 congeneric species pairs from 12 genera, each containing one valley and one plateau species. Species associated with the plateaus or valleys showed trait differences that indicate distinct investments in prevention against hydraulic failure and driving efficiency, respectively. On plateaus, species had higher wood density, lower averages of vessel size and hydraulic diameter of the vessel, smaller stem sapwood area and smaller specific leaf area. Some correlations between traits change according to the contrasting environmental conditions, demonstrating that species have different investments in traits according to the water conditions in the soil. The maximum adult stature in contrast environments was associated with different investing in conductivity efficiency through the xylem anatomy.We conclude that even in a fine scale, with few meters separating contrasting soil texture and water table depth conditions, environmental filters may impose ecological restrictions on trees that could explain species complementary distribution in Central Amazonia. These filter may be stronger in phylogenetically closely related species, which show more similarities and compete for the same resources. Thus, contrasting soil texture and water table depth conditions may be important determinants of species composition and diversity . Thus, we suggest that hydraulic attributes and their relationships with the environment must be better understood, especially on a local level. / Filtros ambientais atuam diretamente sobre a distribuição e composição de espécies. No entanto, não se sabe como solo e as condições hídricas abaixo do solo estão relacionados às características hidráulicas do xilema. Nós examinamos a densidade da madeira e anatomia da madeira, altura, área foliar, área foliar específica e a razão entre área foliar:área de xilema ativo no nível do ramo em espécies de árvore que ocorrem no baixio e platôs em uma floresta de terra-firme. Esses ambientes apresentam diferenças na profundidade do lençol freático e textura do solo. Nós medimos 20 traços funcionais em 28 pares de espécies congenéricas de 12 gêneros. Cada par com uma espécie associada a baixio e uma espécie associada platô. Espécies associadas aos platô ou baixios mostraram diferenças que indicam investimentos distintos na prevenção contra a falha hidráulica e eficiência de condução, respectivamente. Em platôs, as espécies apresentaram maior densidade da madeira, as médias mais baixas de diâmetro do vaso e diâmetro hidráulico do vaso, menor área de xilema ativo no caule e menor área foliar específica. A relação entre alguns atributos se alterou nas condições ambientais contrastantes, e espécies de diferentes alturas nos diferentes ambientes parecem investir em eficiencia e segurança hidráulica de maneiras distintas. Concluímos que mesmo em uma escala fina, com poucos metros separando ambientes com condições contrastantes de textura do solo e profundidade do lençol freático, filtros ambientais podem impor restrições ecológicas em árvores que poderiam explicar espécies de distribuição complementar na Amazônia Central. Estas restrições podem ser mais fortes em espécies filogeneticamente relacionadas, que mostram mais semelhanças e competem pelos mesmos recursos. Sugerimos que os atributos hidráulicos e suas relações com o meio ambiente devem ser melhor compreendidos, especialmente a nível local.

In long term, to discover the genes responsible for wood production, genetic control of wood specific gravity (WSG) in Pinus brutia Ten. (Turkish red pine) open pollinated Ceyhan progeny trial, which was established with the seeds collected from 168 clones originated from six clonal Turkish red pine seed orchards was studied. Wood samples were taken by destructive sampling during the rouging of this trial at the age of seven. Specifically / (1) to examine the magnitude of family differences and its components for wood specific gravity (WSG) and growth traits (height, diameter and stem volume) / (2) to determine WSG inheritance and its genetic correlation with growth traits / and (3) to estimate breeding values of 168 families for the WSG and to predict genetic gain if selection is based on phenotypic, rouged and genotypic seed orchard by reselecting the best parents with respect to WSG. Differences among the 168 families for mean WSG was large (ranged from 0.35 to 0.44), as indicated by high individual (0.42+0.07) and family mean (0.55+0.03) heritabilities. Family differences and high heritabilities were also observed for all growth traits. Genetic correlations between WSG and growth traits were statistically insignificant (near zero), while low and insignificant negative phenotypic correlations among the same traits were observed. Realized genetic gain for single trait selection at age seven was insignificant (0.37 %) for WSG and 8.4 % for stem volume in phenotypic seed orchards. Average genetic gain in breeding zone after roguing, by leaving the best 20 clones in each seed orchard, reached 1.7 % for WSG and 16.1 % for stem volume. Genetic gain (relative to controls) at the age of seven obtained from the first generation genotypic seed orchards consisting the best 30 clones was estimated 5.2 % for WSG and 35 % for stem volume. Multi-trait selection was also proposed in this study for the same traits. Selection of best 10 families for the highest WSG and stem volume breeding values produce 5.6 % genetic gain for WSG and 27.7 % genetic gain for stem volume. For the future, the 168 families with known phenotypic and genotypic values regarding to WSG will be screened for the genes responsible for wood production.

Human pressure on forest resources increased significantly during the past decades through land use and land use change, especially in the tropics where forest clearing is a major source of CO2 release in the atmosphere. Consequently, forests are the focus of international environmental policies and discussions aiming to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation (i.e. REDD+). The capacity of participating countries to regularly provide accurate forests C stocks measurements at a national scale thus represents an important challenge to address. In dense forests, generally only the above ground biomass (AGB) is measured as it accounts for more than 50% of total C stocks. However, important gaps remain at each scale of measurement, i.e. from felled tree to regional mapping, with the resulting errors propagation through these different scales being probably the most concerning issue.<p><p>In the present work, we propose to address these issues by using a multi-scale approach in order to improve our global understanding of AGB variations in dense tropical forests of Central Africa. In particular, we studied (i) forest AGB prediction from remote-sensing textural analysis, (ii) the potential role of largest trees as predictor of the entire forest-stand AGB and (iii) intra- and inter-individual radial variation of wood specific gravity (WSG, i.e. oven-dry mass divided by its green volume) and its potential consequences on the estimation of the AGB of the tree. <p>First, we analyzed the potential use of textural analysis to predict AGB distribution based on very high spatial resolution satellite scenes. In particular, we used the Fast Fourier Transform Ordination (FOTO) method to predict AGB from heterogeneous forest stands of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Here, based on 26 ground plots of 1-ha gathered from the field, plus a successful combination of Geoeye and Quickbird contrasted scenes, we were able to predict and to map AGB with a robust model (R² = 0.85; RMSE = 15%) based on textural gradients. <p>Secondly, the research of AGB indicators was focused on the dissection of the role played by largest trees. Here we found largest trees not only hold large share of forest carbon stock but they contain the print of most of forest-stand structure and diversity. Using a large dataset from western Cameroon to eastern DRC, we developed a non-linear model to predict forest carbon stock from the measurement of only a few large trees. We found the AGB of the 5 % largest stems allow to predict the AGB of the entire forest-stand yielding an R² of 0.87 at a regional scale. Focusing on largest trees species composition, we also showed only 5 % of species account for 50 % of total AGB.<p>In the end, we investigated inter- and intra-individual WSG variations. Despite recognized inter- and intra-specific variations along the radial axis, their ecological determinants and their consequences on trees aboveground biomass assessments remain understudied in tropical regions. To our knowledge, it has never been investigated in Africa. Using a 3-D X-Ray scanner, we studied the radial WSG variation of 14 canopy species of DRC tropical forests. Wood specific gravity variance along the radial profile was dominated by differences between species intercepts (~76%), followed by the differences between their slope (~11%) and between individual cores intercept (~10%). Residual variance was minimal (~3%). Interestingly, no differences were found in the comparison of mean WSG observed on the entire core and the mean WSG at 1-cm under the bark (intercept ~0; coefficient = 1.03). In addition, local values of WSG are strongly correlated with mean value in the global data base at species level. <p><p>I deeply believe these results favor the development of promising tools to map and to estimate accurately the AGB of tropical forest-stands. The information provided by largest trees on the entire forest-stand is particularly interesting both for developing new sampling strategies for carbon stocks monitoring and to characterize tropical forest-stand structure. In particular, our results should provide the opportunity to decrease current sampling cost while decreasing its main related uncertainties, and might also favor an increase of the current sampling coverage. <p> / Doctorat en Sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Several researchers have concluded that there is little or no relationship between specific gravity and ring width or growth rate in yellow-poplar (Liriodendron tulipifera L.). Because most mechanical properties of wood are also closely related to specific gravity, it would thus be of interest to learn how minimum suppression and maximum release years' evidence that can be extracted from radial growth patterns based on a modified radial growth averaging (RGA) technique's influence the compression parallel to grain strength and specific gravity of wood. This study is designed to evaluate the effects of growth suppression and release on ultimate crushing stress and specific gravity for small-sized yellow-poplar specimens. Additionally, the relationship between specific gravity and ultimate crushing stress is investigated. Twenty-three yellow-poplar cores were examined for their growth ring widths. Minimum suppression and maximum release years were identified based on the modified RGA criteria method. From each increment core, three 1 Ã 1 Ã 4 mm specimens from both minimum suppression and maximum release years were tested for their ultimate crushing stresses using a micro-mechanical test system. The specific gravity of each specimen was also recorded. These data were analyzed using a paired samples t test and a simple linear regression. The results indicate that the mean ultimate crushing stress and specific gravity of maximum release years were significantly higher than that of minimum suppression years. Furthermore, the ultimate crushing stress was linearly related to the specific gravity of the specimens. / Master of Science