ABSTRACT: Variation in wood anatomy of white spruce in response to dune activity

CGRG Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology
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Abstract

Variation in the wood anatomy of a white spruce (Picea glauca[Moench] Voss) growing in the surroundings of an active dune and subjected to burial by eolian sands and subsequent exposure of its main stem under wind action was studied. Maximum thickness of eolian sediments accumulated above the root collar was 3.4 m, and the stem was subsequently exposed to a depth of 1.86 m along the bole. The size of cell cavities was processed using a digitizing video camera mounted on an optical microscope for image analysis. Our results indicate that the mean increase in size of tracheids for all levels was close to 50%. The increase in tracheid size and decrease of radial growth in response to stem burial were not synchronous, the change being more rapid in cell size than in radial growth. The frequency distribution of tracheid sizes at the time of maximum sand deposition showed a general trend towards larger tracheids from lower to upper sections of the tree stem, and it differed at all levels from that of a reference tree. Because of the spontaneous response in wood anatomy of affected trees, the variation in wood structure can become a useful temporal marker, especially in sites affected by slow environmental changes.

Bibliography of Canadian Geomorphology