Structural dynamics of silver birch I. The fates of buds.
Abstract
The structural dynamics of the growth of Betula pendula were examined using demographic techniques in which elements of the crown (buds, leaves, shoots and flowers) were considered as populations of repeated units. Samples were taken from 3 mature open-grown trees 4-10 m high in North Wales; sampling problems are discussed and the fates of buds analysed in relation to leaf dynamics and heterophylly, flowering, shoot elongation and changes in the bud population. The leading bud is considered particularly important in determining growth and form.