The New Zealand conifers (20 species of trees and shrubs in the Araucariaceae, Podocarpaceae, and Cupressaceae) are often regarded as ancient Gondwanan elements, but mostly originated much later. Often thought of as tall trees of humid, warm forests, they are present throughout in alpine shrublands, tree lines, bogs, swamps, and in dry, frost-prone regions. The tall conifers rarely form purely ...

Plant light interception and shade tolerance are intrinsically related in that they involve structural, morphological and physiological adaptations to manage light capture for photosynthetic utilization, in order to sustain survival, development and reproduction. At the scale of small-size trees, crown traits related to structural geometry of branching pattern and space occupancy through phyllo...

Biological legacies left by natural disturbances provide ecological functions throughout forest stand development, but their influences on processes of ecological succession are not completely understood. We investigated the successional role of one type of biological legacy: remnant old-growth trees persisting in mature Pseudotsuga menziesii (Douglas-fir) forests in the U.S. Pacific Northwest....

The male gametophytes of gymnosperms are characterized by the diversities in pollen morphology, cellular composition and pattern of cell division, pollen tube morphology, sperm delivery, growth pattern through the ovule and nucellus, and pollen tube wall composition both within and among the four living orders, i.e., Cycadales, Ginkgoales, Coniferales, and Gnetales. At dehiscence, gymnosperm po...