Population Structure and Biomass Allocation of the Naturalized Shrub Lonicera maackii (Rupr.) Maxim. in Forest and Open Habitats

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Abstract
Open-grown populations of Lonicera maackii (Rupr.) Maxim. in northern Kentucky [USA] had significantly (P .ltoreq. 0.05) higher aboveground net primary production (NPP) per stem and per shrub, and a significantly (P .ltoreq. 0.05) higher percentage of aboveground biomass in leaves than forest-grown populations. The contribution of current (young-of-the-year) stems to aboveground NPP was significantly (P .ltoreq. 0.05) higher in forest-grown populations. Stem demography was habitat-specific. Open-grown populations were characterized by unimodal age- and size-class distributions, low stem recruitment and low stem mortality. Forest-grown populations were characterized by right-skewed, bimodal, unimodal and random age- and size-class distributions, high stem recruitment and high mortality of small stems. In open-grown populations, intragent regulation of basal stem sprouting after 3-5 years assures that future NPP will be allocated primarily to residual (> 1 year old) stems. In forest-grown populations, continued production of current basal stems means that the subcanopy environment is annually tested for changes in resource availability. The results suggest that future NPP in forest-grown populations will be allocated to a mixture of current and residual basal stems.

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