Radial growing, cambial activity, and phenology of tree species in a subtropical forest in Southern Brazil

doi:10.3832/ifor4642-018

Radial growing, cambial activity, and phenology of tree species in a subtropical forest in Southern Brazil

Jaçanan Eloisa de Freitas Milani⁽¹⁾, Antonio Albanezi Neto⁽²⁾ , Larissa da Silva Bueno dos Santos⁽²⁾, Erika Amano⁽³⁾, Franklin Galvão⁽³⁾, Bruno Palka Miranda⁽³⁾, Rodrigo de Andrade Kersten⁽⁴⁾, Carlos Vellozo Roderjan⁽³⁾

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry, Volume 18, Issue 5, Pages 252-258 (2025)
doi: https://doi.org/10.3832/ifor4642-018
Published: Sep 22, 2025 - Copyright © 2025 SISEF

Research Articles

PDF Version

Full Text

Citation

Geo-mapping

Understanding the factors that affect cambial activity can provide historical documentation of events influencing plant growth and development. This study aimed to link cambial activity and diameter increment of native and exotic species in a floodplain forest in SE Brazil with phenological and meteorological data to answer the following questions: Is species diameter growth influenced by meteorological variables and phenological behavior? Is cambial activity seasonal, with active and inactive periods? Is cell differentiation for initial wood formation triggered by any phenological phase? Diameter increment was measured with dendrometer tapes, cambial activity through vascular cambium samples collection, and phenological behavior through the intensity index. Vegetative structures (mature leaves, senescent leaves, and buds) and reproductive structures (anthesis, immature fruit, and mature fruit) were monitored on a monthly basis. The relationship between meteorological variables and phenophases that lead ro diameter increment was analyzed using multiple linear regression. Additionally, logistic regressions was employed to examine the connection between phenophase variables and cambial activity. The results indicate that the duration of the growing season differs among species, ranging from seven to nine months. Gymnanthes klotzschiana and Blepharocalyx salicifolius showed their highest rates of radial increment from November to March, while Hovenia dulcis and Ligustrum lucidum, from August to April. The increase in diameter for these species is positively influenced by specific phenophases. For G. klotzschiana, these include the presence of mature leaves, senescent leaves, and immature fruits, while for H. dulcis, the presence of mature leaves, senescent leaves, and mature fruits. Moreover, cambial activity is seasonal, with both active and inactive periods occurring mainly in the spring and summer in the four species studied. Different phenological signals were identified as triggers for the initial wood formation, namely, the presence of senescent leaves in G. klotzschiana, budding in H. dulcis, and mature fruits and senescent leaves in L. lucidum. No relationship was found between phenophases and cambial activity or inactivity periods in B. salicifolius.

Keywords

Foodplain, Seasonality, Phenophases, Meteorological Variables, Environmental Monitoring, Ecophysiology

Authors’ address

(1)

0000-0002-4831-2551
Postgraduate Program in Forestry and Environmental Sciences, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso (Brazil)

(2)

0009-0009-7988-8412
Faculty of Forestry Engineering, Federal University of Mato Grosso, Cuiabá, Mato Grosso (Brazil)

(3)

0000-0002-1425-1607
0000-0002-4349-005X
0000-0002-1872-5355
Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná (Brazil)

(4)

0000-0003-1953-8516
Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Paraná (Brazil)

Corresponding author

Antonio Albanezi Neto
antonioneto000@outlook.com

Citation

Milani JEF, Neto AA, Bueno dos Santos LS, Amano E, Galvão F, Miranda BP, Kersten RA, Roderjan CV (2025). Radial growing, cambial activity, and phenology of tree species in a subtropical forest in Southern Brazil. iForest 18: 252-258. - doi: 10.3832/ifor4642-018

Academic Editor

Claudia Cocozza

Paper history

Received: May 17, 2024
Accepted: Apr 03, 2025

First online: Sep 22, 2025
Publication Date: Oct 31, 2025
Publication Time: 5.73 months

Open Access

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.

Breakdown by View Type

(Waiting for server response...)

Article Usage

Total Article Views: 571
(from publication date up to now)

Breakdown by View Type
HTML Page Views: 146
Abstract Page Views: 197
PDF Downloads: 209
Citation/Reference Downloads: 0
XML Downloads: 19

Web Metrics
Days since publication: 22
Overall contacts: 571
Avg. contacts per week: 181.68

Article Citations

Article citations are based on data periodically collected from the Clarivate Web of Science web site
(last update: Mar 2025)

(No citations were found up to date. Please come back later)

(no Plumx Metrics available for this paper)

Publication Metrics

by Dimensions ^©

Articles citing this article

List of the papers citing this article based on CrossRef Cited-by.

(1)

Aide TM (1993)
The role of herbivores in the phenology of tropical plants. Biotropica 25 (1): 1-8.
Gscholar

(2)

Alvares CA, Stape JL, Sentelhas PC, Gonçalves JLM, Sparovek G (2014)
Mapa de classificação climática de Köppen para o Brasil [Köppen climate classification map for Brazil]. Meteorological Journal 22 (6): 711-728. [in Portuguese]
CrossRef | Gscholar

(3)

Amano E (2007)
Pau-Brasil, madeira e casca: formação, desenvolvimento e estrutura [Brazilwood, wood and bark: formation, development and structure]. Doctoral thesis, Instituto de Biociências, Departamento de Botnica, Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil, pp. 110. [in Portuguese]
Online | Gscholar

(4)

Begum S, Nakaba S, Yamagishi Y, Oribe Y, Funada R (2013)
Regulation of cambial activity in relation to environmental conditions: understanding the role of temperature in wood formation of trees. Physiologia Plantarum 147 (1): 46-54.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(5)

Bhalerao RP, Bennett MJ (2003)
The case of morphogens in plants. Nature Cell Biology 5 (11): 939-943.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(6)

Borchert R (1999)
Climatic periodicity, phenology and cambium activity in tropical dry forest trees. International Association of Wood Anatomists Journal 20 (3): 239-247.
Online | Gscholar

(7)

Botosso PC, Mattos PP (2002)
Conhecer a idade das árvores: importncia e aplicações [Knowing the age of trees: importance and applications]. Embrapa Florestas, Colombo, PR, Brazil, pp. 25. [in Portuguese]
Online | Gscholar

(8)

Botosso PC, Tomazello Filho M (2023)
Tree growth and survival are more sensitive to high rainfall than to drought in tropical forests. Nature Communications 5: 179.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(9)

Breitsprecher A, Bethel JS (1990)
Periodicity of tree stem growth in a Costa Rican tropical rainforest. Ecology 71: 1156-1164.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(10)

Cherubini P, Gartner BL, Tognetti R, Bräker O, Schoch W, Innes JL (2003)
Identification, measurement, and interpretation of tree rings in woody species from Mediterranean climates. Biological Reviews 78 (1): 119-148.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(11)

Feeley KJ, Bernal-Escobar M, Fortier R, Kullberg AT (2023)
Tropical trees will need to acclimate to rising temperatures - but can they? Plants (Basel) 12 (17): 3142.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(12)

Cordeiro IM, Schwartz G, Barros PL (2020)
Efeitos do clima sobre o incremento diamétrico de Paricá (Schizolobium parahyba var. Amazonicum - Fabaceae) em plantios comerciais [Effects of climate on the diameter increase of Paricá (Schizolobium parahyba var. Amazonicum - Fabaceae) in commercial plantations]. Nativa 8 (2): 246-252. [in Portuguese]
CrossRef | Gscholar

(13)

Davis CC, Lyra GM, Park DS, Asprino R, Maruyama R, Torquato D, Cook BI, Ellison AM (2022)
New directions in tropical phenology. Trends in Ecology and Evolution 37 (8): 683-693.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(14)

De Luis M, Gričar J, Cufar K, Raventós J (2007)
Seasonal dynamics of wood formation in Pinus halepensis from dry and semi-arid ecosystems in Spain. International Association of Wood Anatomists Journal 78 (1): 119-148.
Online | Gscholar

(15)

McMillan HM (2024)
In the face of climate change, will trees be… shorter? Plant Physiology 194 (3): 1279-1281.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(16)

Fahn A, Burley J, Longman KA, Mariaux A, Tonlinson PB (1981)
Possible contributions of wood anatomy to the determination of the age of tropical trees. In: “Age and growth rate of tropical trees: new directions for research” (Bormann FH, Berlyn G eds). Yale University, New Haven, USA, pp. 31-54.
Gscholar

(17)

Figueiredo LTM, Soares CPB, Sousa AL, Leite HG, Silva GF (2014)
Dinmica do estoque de carbono em fuste de árvores de uma floresta estacional semidecidual [Dynamics of carbon stock in tree trunks of a semi-deciduous seasonal forest]. Cerne 21: 161-167. [in Portuguese]
CrossRef | Gscholar

(18)

Fritts HC (1958)
An analysis of radial growth of beech in a Central Ohio forest during 1954€Â1955. Ecology 39 (4): 705-720.
Gscholar

(19)

Da Silva TRG, Da Costa MLA, Farias LRA, Dos Santos MA, Rocha JJL, Silva JV (2021)
Abiotic factors in plant growth and flowering. Research, Society and Development 10 (4): e19710413817-e19710413817.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(20)

Grotta AT, Gartner BL, Radosevich SR, Huso M (2005)
Influence of red alder competition on cambial phenology and latewood formation in Douglas-fir. International Association of Wood Anatomists Journal 26 (3): 309-324.
Online | Gscholar

(21)

Gutiérrez E, Campelo F, Camarero JJ, Ribas M, Muntán E, Nabais C, Freitas H (2011)
Climate controls act at different scales on the seasonal pattern of Quercus ilex L. stem radial increments in NE Spain. Trees 25: 637-646.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(22)

Hawerroth FJ, Herter FG, Petri JL, Leite GB, Pereira JFM (2010)
Dormência em frutíferas de clima temperado [Dormancy in temperate fruit trees]. Embrapa Clima Temperado, Pelotas, RS, Brazil, pp. 56.
Online | Gscholar

(23)

He Y, Wang Y, Zhang X (2024)
Precipitation and relative humidity favor tree growth while air temperature affects stem shrinkage. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change 7: 1368590.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(24)

Iqbal M, Jura-Morawiec J, Wloch W (2010)
Foliar characteristics, cambial activity and wood formation in Azadirachta indica A. Juss. as affected by coal-smoke pollution. Flora-Morphology, Distribution, Functional Ecology of Plants 205 (1): 61-71.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(25)

Kanieski MR, Santos TL, Neto JG, Souza T, Galvão F, Roderjan CV (2012)
Influência da precipitação e da temperatura no incremento diamétrico de espécies floreastais aluviais em Araucária-PR [Influence of precipitation and temperature on the diameter increase of alluvial forest species in Araucária-PR]. Floresta e Ambiente 19 (1): 17-25. [in Portuguese]
CrossRef | Gscholar

(26)

Milani JFE, Roderjan CV, Braghini A, Kersten RA (2015)
Phenology of two tree species of understory in an alluvial forest in Paraná state, Brazil. Spanish Journal of Rural Development 6: 145-150.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(27)

Morel H, Mangenet T, Beauchêne J, Ruelle J, Nicolini E, Heuret P, Thibaut B (2015)
Seasonal variations in phenological traits: leaf shedding and cambial activity in Parkia nitida Miq. and Parkia velutina Benoist (Fabaceae) in tropical rainforest. Trees 29 (4): 973-984.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(28)

Müller A, Correa MZ, Führ CS, Hofstetter Padoin TO, Müller de Quevedo D, Schmitt JL (2022)
Phenology of Araucaria Forest fern communities: comparison of the influence of natural edge, artificial edge, and forest interior. International Journal of Biometeorology 66: 2259-2271.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(29)

O’Brien JJ, Oberbauer SF, Clark DB, Clark DA (2008)
Phenology and stem diameter increment seasonality in a Costa Rican wet tropical forest. Biotropica 40 (2): 151-159.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(30)

Pumijumnong N, Buajan S (2013)
Seasonal cambial activity of five tropical tree species in central Thailand. Trees 27 (2): 409-417.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(31)

Singh ND, Venugopal N (2011)
Cambial activity and annual rhythm of xylem production of Pinus kesiya Royle ex. Gordon (Pinaceae) in relation to phenology and climatic factors growing in sub-tropical wet forest of North East India. Flora 206 (3): 198-204.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(32)

Strieder E, Vospernik S (2021)
Intra-annual diameter growth variation of six common European tree species in pure and mixed stands. Silva Fennica 55 (4): 10449.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(33)

Valverde JC, Arias-Aguilar D, Castillo-Ugalde M, Zamora-Villalobos N (2024)
Influence of climatic variables on the stem growth rate in trees of a tropical wet forest. Conservation 4: 139-149.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(34)

Vasconcelos RS, Azevedo CP, Souza CR, Neto ELV, Carreire MBF (2016)
Dinmica do carbono em uma floresta manejada comercialmente no Amazonas [Carbon dynamics in a commercially managed forest in the Amazon]. Floresta 46 (2): 197-205.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(35)

Worbes M (1995)
How to measure growth dynamics in tropical trees a review. International Association of Wood Anatomists journal Journal 16 (4): 337-351.
Online | Gscholar

(36)

Worbes M, Blanchart S, Fichtler E (2013)
Relations between water balance, wood traits and phenological behavior of tree species from a tropical dry forest in Costa Rica: a multifactorial study. Tree Physiology 33 (5): 527-536.
CrossRef | Gscholar

(37)

Yáñez-Espinosa L, Terrazas T, López-Mata L (2010)
Phenology and radial stem growth periodicity in evergreen subtropical rainforest trees. International Association of Wood Anatomists Journal 31 (3): 293-307.
Gscholar

(38)

Zuidema PA, Babst F, Groenendijk P, Trouet V, Abiyu A, Acuña-Soto R, Adenesky-Filho E, Alfaro-Sánchez R, Aragão JR, Assis-Pereira G, Bai X, Barbosa AC, Battipaglia G, Beeckman H, Botosso PC, Bradley T, Bräuning A, Brienen R, Buckley BM, Camarero JJ, Carvalho A, Ceccantini G, Centeno-Erguera LR, Cerano-Paredes J, Chávez-Durán ÁA, Cintra BB, Cleaveland MK, Couralet C, D’Arrigo R, del Valle JI, Dünisch O, Enquist BJ, Esemann-Quadros K, Eshetu Z, Fan ZX, Ferrero ME, Fichtler E, Fontana C, Francisco KS, Gebrekirstos A, Gloor E, Granato-Souza D, Haneca K, Harley GL, Heinrich I, Helle G, Inga JG, Islam M, Jiang Ym, Kaib M, Khamisi ZH, Koprowski M, Kruijt B, Layme E, Leemans R, Leffler AJ, Lisi CS, Loader NJ, Locosselli GM, Lopez L, López-Hernández MI, Lousada JL, Mendivelso HA, Mokria M, Montóia VR, Moors E, Nabais C, Ngoma J, Nogueira Júnior Fd, Oliveira JM, Olmedo GM, Pagotto MA, Panthi S, Pérez-De-Lis G, Pucha-Cofrep D, Pumijumnong N, Rahman M, Ramirez JA, Requena-Rojas EJ, Ribeiro Ad, Robertson I, Roig FA, Rubio-Camacho EA, Sass-Klaassen U, Schöngart J, Sheppard PR, Slotta F, Speer JH, Therrell MD, Toirambe B, Tomazello-Filho M, Torbenson MC, Touchan R, Venegas-González A, Villalba R, Villanueva-Diaz J, Vinya R, Vlam M, Wils T, Zhou ZK (2022)
Tropical tree growth driven by dry-season climate variability. Nature Geoscience 15 (4): 269-276.
CrossRef | Gscholar

iForest - Biogeosciences and Forestry

Contents

Search

Journal Info

Journal Subjects and Fields

For Authors

For Reviewers

For Readers

SISEF Publishing

Search iForest Contents