In a two-year experiment, trees being browsed had significantly higher copper levels in their leaves during the second growing season.
Since copper is taken up by plants via mass flow, and within-plant mobility of copper is low, the drought that occurred in the second year should have reduced the copper concentration in new regrowth.
I am looking for an alternative explanation for these findings.
Thank you for sharing that paper.
I had started looking into Cu-Zn SODs prior to posting my question, but got confused. Is Cu the catalyst for creating free radicals, a component of SODs, or both?
If this were an annual plant, I would be looking at either something increasing the supply of copper to the plant, or a reduction in growth that concentrates the copper in the plant tissue (lots of growth = dilution of micros; little growth = concentration of micros, at least given similar copper uptake). Is there any possibility the droppings from the browsers increased the copper supply to the trees?
Is there a possibility that the copper may have come from an external source such as spray drift from nearby crops or air pollution?
- Badges
- Science topic
- Similar topics
- Agriculture
- Horticulture
- Seeds