Biomass production, foliar and root characteristics and nutrient accumulation in young silver birch (Betula pendula Roth.) stand growing on abandoned agricultural land

The above-ground biomass and production, below-ground biomass, nutrient (NPK) accumulation, fine roots and foliar characteristics of a 8-year-old silver birch (Betula pendula) natural stand, growing on abandoned agricultural land in Estonia, were investigated. Total above-ground biomass and current annual production after eight growing seasons was 31.2 and 11.9 t DM ha⁻¹, respectively. The production of stems accounted for 62.4% and below-ground biomass accounted for 19.2% of the total biomass of the stand. Carbon sequestration in tree biomass reaches roughly 17.5 t C ha⁻¹ during the first 8 years. The biomass of the fine roots (d < 2 mm) was 1.7 ± 0.2 t DM ha⁻¹ and 76.2% of it was located in the 20 cm topsoil layer. The leaf area index (LAI) of the birch stand was estimated as 3.7 m² m⁻² and specific leaf area (SLA) 15.0 ± 0.1 m² kg⁻¹. The impact of the crown layer on SLA was significant as the leaves are markedly thicker in the upper part of the crown compared with the lower part. The short-root specific area (SRA) in the 30 cm topsoil was 182.9 ± 9.5 m² kg⁻¹, specific root length (SRL), root tissue density (RTD) and the number of short-root tips (>95% ectomycorrhizal) per dry mass unit of short roots were 145.3 ± 8.6 m g⁻¹, 58.6 ± 3.0 kg m⁻³ and 103.7 ± 5.5 tips mg⁻¹, respectively. In August the amount of nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, accumulated in above ground biomass, was 192.6, 25.0 and 56.6 kg ha⁻¹, respectively. The annual flux of N and P retranslocation from the leaves to the other tree parts was 57.2 and 3.7 kg ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ (55 and 27%), respectively, of which 29.1 kg ha⁻¹ N and 2.8 kg ha⁻¹ P were accumulated in the above-ground part of the stand.     

白桦雄花序发育早期和中期差异表达基因的cDNA-AFLP分析

白桦雄花发育周期较长,从出现雄花序至花粉成熟经历近一年,其发育早期和中期是决定雄配子体发育的重要时期。采用cDNA-AFLP方法对白桦早期和中期发育雄花序进行了差异表达谱分析,共得到了62个TDFs,其中30个TDFs与Genbank中的基因具有较高的同源性,其它32个是未知序列。GO分析结果显示,这些已知基因主要参与代谢过程、细胞过程、刺激应答、生殖、信号传导和生物调控等生物学过程,其分子功能主要涉及催化活性、结合分子功能、酶调节活性和转运活性等;发现了参与生殖和雄花发育的两个重要TDFs,Bplbs658和Bplbs199。另外,选择11个TDFs进行不同组织的qRT-PCR转录表达分析,结果表明这些基因不仅参与花发育,也参与营养组织的发育,但各自具有不同的组织表达特征。