Intraspecific Variation in Production of Astringent Phenolics over a Vegetation-Resource Availability Gradient

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-1-1987

Publication Source

Oecologia

Abstract

The chemical constituency of flowering dogwood (Cornus florida L.) and red maple (Acer rubrum L.) foliage was analyzed over a species compositional gradient to test the hypothesis that over subtle gradients of moisture and nutrient availability production of phenolic compounds will be increased on sites of greatest stress. Calcium and nitrogen concentrations declined along the gradient in both species, while phosphorus showed a significant decline only in red maple. Lignin concentrations in both species were unrelated to the vegetation gradient, but astringent phenolics increased by 156% and 159% in dogwood and red maple, respectively. The correlation between production of polyphenols and site quality supports previous observations that under conditions of environmental stress production of many secondary compounds is increased, and suggests that this relationship is significant over subtle environmental gradients.

Inclusive pages

211-215

ISBN/ISSN

Electronic ISSN: 1432-1939; Print ISSN: 0029-8549

Comments

This article is included in the repository because its author is a regular co-author of University of Dayton faculty member Ryan W. McEwan, and the research in it is at the foundation of the McEwan Lab's work in Lilley Cornett Woods. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379270

Publisher

Springer

Volume

72

Peer Reviewed

yes

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