Studies on Quantitative Analysis of Tree Form of Woody Plants

Research Project

Project/Area Number	04660037
Research Category	Grant-in-Aid for General Scientific Research (C)
Allocation Type	Single-year Grants
Research Field	園芸・造園学
Research Institution	Tokyo University of Agriculture
Principal Investigator	HAMAYA Toshio Tokyo Univ.of Agriculture, Dept.of Landscape Gard.Prof., 農学部, 教授 (10011933)
Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha)	HAMANO Chikayasu Tokyo Univ.of Agriculture, Dept.of Lands.Gard.Instruct., 農学部, 講師 (80109561) KITAZAWA Kiyoshi Tokyo Univ.of Agriculture, Dept.of Lands.Gard.Ass.Prof., 農学部, 助教授 (30078167)
Project Period (FY)	1992 – 1994
Project Status	Completed (Fiscal Year 1994)
Budget Amount *help	¥1,800,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,800,000) Fiscal Year 1994: ¥300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥300,000) Fiscal Year 1993: ¥500,000 (Direct Cost: ¥500,000) Fiscal Year 1992: ¥1,000,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000)
Keywords	Tree Species / Tree Form / Branching Habit / Shoot / Age / Quantification / Regression Equation / ケヤキ / 落葉広葉樹 / 樹冠 / 伸長量 / 樹幹 / 樹体構築 / 量的表現 / 類型化
Research Abstract	An analytical method of quantification was applied to 80 species of woody plants, in order to find which elements contribute most for determining the image of the tree form characteristic to each of them. Fiftenn items were selected out among various characters of trunks, crowns, branches and foliage as well as the correlation between these characters. And every item was graded with two to five categories for all species, and the data thus obtained were subjected to the analysis based on the theory of quantification III (Hayashi's). Through the comparison of the category scores plotted into a two-dimensional graph, those 80 species were classified into four groups, i.e., those of deciduous broad-leaved, conifer, shrub and evergreen broad-leaved species. This classification also coincides well with that of the arrangement of the sample scores. Thus this suggests that the image of tree form of any species is determined mainly by the length and shape of trunks supporting the crowns and by the density and the shape of the outline of crowns. The branching habit in the outer layrs of crowns were next examined on several representative broad-leaved tree species, and the following regression equations were determined ; Between the length (y) of 1-3-yr-old branches and the number (x) of nodes on them : Keyaki (Zelkova serrata) : y=k-a・b^x Katura (Cercidiphyllum japonicum) : y=x/ (a+bx) *K,a, b : constant Between the age (x) of branches and the number (y) of branchlets and nodes on them : Keyaki (25-yr-old tree) : log_<10>=-0.648+0.7x The equation curves of younger individuals fluctuate around this, suggesting the trend that they gradually converge to it with the age of trees.