On the Prostrate Growth form of the Pedunculate Oak

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Abstract

Studying the plasticity of tree life forms helps to understand the mechanisms ensuring the stability of their populations in forest communities. The object of the study is the prostrate life form (trailing shrub, ‘stlanec’) of the pedunculate oak (Quercus robur L.). The aim of the work is to show the importance of prostrate form for the stable existence of oak populations in forest coenoses. The oak was studied in Nerussa-Desna Woodland. Field studies have revealed that the prostrate form of oak forms under limited illumination in bilberry pine forests, cowberry pine forests, green moss — cowberry pine forests, mixed-herb pine forests and cowberry-bilberry birch forests. Morphological analysis has shown that the prostrate form forms in several ways: lying down and rooting of the orthotropic trunk, of lower horizontal branches and shoots of the undergrowth, as well as of forming shoots of quasi-senile individuals. The prostrate life form is a manifestation of the oak’s phytocoenotic tolerance. The prostrate form is a variant of the undergrowth characterised by extremely low vitality. In this depressed state, the oak can exist under the forest canopy for more than fifty years. With improved illumination, the prostrate form first transforms into a semi-prostrate form, and then into an upright crown-forming tree. This demonstrates the optionality of the oak’s prostrate lifeform.

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About the authors

N. V. Korotkova

Isaev Centre for Forest Ecology and Productivity of the Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: quercus_eo@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Profsoyuznaya st., 84/32, bldg. 14, Moscow, 117997

O. I. Evstigneev

State Nature Biosphere Reserve “Bryansk Forest”

Author for correspondence.
Email: quercus_eo@mail.ru
Russian Federation, Nerussa, 242180

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2. Fig. 1. The stem of the petiolate oak (A) and its xylorhizome (B). Designations: bc — death of the basal (proximal) part of the xylorhizome; gp — boundaries of annual growth; k — inversion in the shoot system; np — lateral arcuate ascending aboveground shoots that formed from dormant buds; hp — growth of shoots on the periphery of the xylorhysome, in its distal part; pk — adventitious roots; sk — xylorhysome stem. The wall area is 40 m2. The length of the xylorhizome is 1.7 m.

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3. Fig. 2. Methods of formation of the vital form of the stem in the oak petiolate on the example of immature undergrowth of the second subgroup (im2): I — lodging and rooting of the stem of the undergrowth; II — from shoots that develop from dormant buds at the base of the stem of the undergrowth; III — from shoots of formation (skeletal axes) of quasi-senile undergrowth (“junkies”); IV — from the lower branches of the undergrowth. Designations: A — low—vitality undergrowth with an umbrella—shaped crown; B — a stalk with a living main root; C — low—vitality undergrowth with overgrown shoots; D - low-vitality undergrowth with xylorrhizomes; E - quasi-senile undergrowth with shoots of formation; F - quasi-senile undergrowth with xylorrhizomes; G — low-vitality undergrowth with a rooted lower branch (xylorhizome); Z — a stanza with a dead basal part; bch — the death of the basal part of the stanza; gc — the main root; zk — umbrella—shaped crown; k - inversion in the shoot system; kr — xylorhizome; ks — xylopodium; hb — lower branch; np — lateral arcuate ascending aboveground shoots that have formed from dormant buds; hp — growth and rooting of shoots on the periphery of the stem; pv — soil surface; pk — adventitious roots; pp — overgrown shoot; pf — shoot formation (skeletal axis); ct — undergrowth stem.

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4. Fig. 3. The half-wall of the oak petiolate. Designations: bc — death of the basal (proximal) part of the xylorizome; gp — the boundaries of annual growth; sv — a withered branch; zk — umbrella—shaped crown; hp — growth of shoots on the periphery of the xylorizome, in its distal part; pk — adventitious roots; sk — xylorizome stem; ct - undergrowth stem. Biological age of partial formations: im1 is an immature individual of the first subgroup; im2 is an immature individual of the second subgroup.

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