In a recent experiment, we grew Acacia mangium under five light intensities: 4, 7, 25, 50 and 100% side by side with four other rainforest species under conditions free of water stress. Acacia mangium outgrew all the other species as expected, not only under 100% light but also under 50% and 25%. It had the highest leaf turnover rate due to its short leaf life span, which is about 300 days at 4% light dropping to 100 days at 100% light. Its leaf life span drops at a rate of 40 days for each doubling of light intensity. Compared to the next fastest growing species, Shorea roxburghii, Acacia mangium grows 4 times as fast but takes up 15 times as much N, 10 times as much P and 16 times as much K.
Our paper has been published in the Journal of Tropical Forest Science 20 (3) 218-234 (2008). P.S. Tong and F.S.P. Ng: Effect of light intensity on growth, leaf production, leaf lifespan and leaf nutrient budgets of Acacia mangium, Cinnamomum iners, Dyera costulata, Eusideroxylon zwageri and Shorea roxburghii.
http://info.frim.gov.my/cfdocs/infocenter/booksonline/index.cfm?menu=jtfs
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Dear Dr. Ng,
Sorry for approaching you via your blog, but your e-mail address at FRIM did not seem to work anymore. Anyway, thank you very much for your letter of 12 September and the beautifully designed report on the setting up of a Natural History Museum in Malaysia. I am glad to see that the work visit I organised for you here in Naturalis last year has paid off. I have read the report and I must say I am very impressed, since it shows keen vision and novelty in addressing the problem of setting up such an institution in Malaysia. I am particularly pleased that research plays such a prominent role in your advice. I hope the project will come off the ground soon; if I understand the timetable correctly, next year will see the start of the building works (has a site been selected already?). Needless to say, I and many other researchers in Naturalis will be following the progress of this project with great interest and will remain very willing to maintain tight links with the new museum. Please do nnot hesitate to contact me if you need further help at a later stage.
Best regards,
Menno Schilthuizen
Prof. Dr. Menno Schilthuizen
National Museum of Natural History Naturalis
P.O. Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, the Netherlands
E-mail schilthuizen@naturalis.nl; schilthuizen@yahoo.com
tel. +31-71-5687769; +31-6-22030313 (mobile); +31-318-300380 (home)
http://www.mennoschilthuizen.org
http://science.naturalis.nl/schilthuizen
Other affiliations:
Professor for Insect Biodiversity, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Research Associate, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia
very useful post. I would love to follow you on twitter. By the way, did anyone hear that some chinese hacker had busted twitter yesterday again.
very usefull post. Thanks Dr.Ng
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