The Early Growth of Beech Seedlings Under Natural and Experimental Conditions

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Abstract
Seedlings of Fagus silvatica obtained from woodland soils under natural conditions, were found to be very similar, whatever their origin. They showed high water content, low dry weight, low root/shoot ratio, and incomplete mobilisation of cotyledonary stores of N, leading to a loss of total N in the first year. By means of pot expts. it was shown that these symptoms were shared also by artificially shaded seedlings, in contrast to those grown in full light. Beech seedlings, in their early life, are evidently retarded in growth by low light intensity under woodland conditions, there being no evidence that root competition for water or N is important at this stage.