Summary
The dynamics of leaf extension in five species of Poa were studied with electronic auxanometers (LVDTs) along an elevational gradient from 600 to 3200 m in the Austrian Alps. Extension rates peak at midday at all elevations and rates at 20°C are almost twice as high at low elevation as compared with those from the highest sites. The low temperature threshold for leaf extension drops by 7 K over this range of elevation, with plants from the highest sites showing some extension around freezing point. Thus, there is a substantial adaptive adjustment in response of leaf extension to declining mean temperatures with increasing altitude, which is not paralleled by known altitudinal trends of photosynthetic responses in herbaceous plants.
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Körner, C., Woodward, F.I. The dynamics of leaf extension in plants with diverse altitudinal ranges. Oecologia 72, 279–283 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379279
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00379279