Differences of Wood Elements of Prosopis laevigata from Two Areas of Northeast Mexico

Artemio Carrillo-Parra, Rahim Foroughbakhch-Pournavab, Verónica Bustamante-García, Sadoth Sandoval-Torres, Fortunato Garza-Ocañas, Sergio Moreno-Limón

Centro Interdisciplinario de Investigación para el Desarrollo Integral Regional, Instituto Politécnico Nacional, Oaxaca de Juárez, México..
Facultad de Ciencias Biológicas, Uni- versidad Uutónoma de Nuevo León, San Nicolás de los Garza, México.
Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Untónoma de Nuevo León, Linares, México.
Facultad de Ciencias Forestales, Universidad Untónoma de Nuevo León, Linares, México;.
Instituto de Silvicultura e Industria de la Madera, Universi- dad Juárez del Estado de Durango, Durango, México.

DOI: 10.4236/ajps.2013.45A009                

Abstract

Anatomical features of wood have a great variation among species as a result of genetic and environmental factors. The anatomical heartwood characteristics of Prosopis laevigata species from two areas with differences on temperature and rain precipitation on northeast Mexico were compared. Fibers length (μm), diameter of vessels (μm), and the area of the vessels (μm^-2) were measured using light microscopy coupled with a digitized-image analysis system. The differences were statistically analyzed with analysis of variance. Statistical differences between fibers length (p < 0.0001) and diameter of the vessels (p < 0.001) from the two localities were found. The locality Linares, Nuevo León, Mexico, with higher precipitation and lower temperature, showed higher fiber length and higher diameter of the vessels than China, Nuevo León. Hard environmental conditions, where low precipitation values and high temperatures prevail, condition P. laevigata trees do reduce the risk of losing water.

Keywords

Wood Anatomy;Prosopis laevigata; Vessels; Fiber

1. Introduction

Physical, chemical, mechanical, and anatomical features of wood have a great variation among species, trees, and even between samples from the same tree as result of genetic and environmental factors such as temperature, light intensity, wind, frost, photoperiod, soil fertility, and water availability [1,2]. Studies on the relationship between environmental conditions to wood characteristics are mainly focused on wood density, pore distribution, vessel diameter, vessel lumen, and pits [3-5]. Light-demanding species grow faster than shade-tolerant species producing low-density wood. A fast development of stem produced thinner cell wall and wider lumen that slow growing species. Ring-porous species tolerate lower degrees of drought stress than diffuse-porous species [6].

The vessels characteristics as the number of vessels, diameter, length, density, distribution and thickness are affected by some climatic factors such as temperature, water availability as well as latitude, altitude, and differences in habitats [7-9]. Vessels also show forming groups in dry environment conditions. On the other hand, in humid environments they are only solitary and rarely grouped [10].

Few reports showing the relation between cell length and climate have been developed. Reference [11] did not find relationship between climatic conditions and tracheid length. According to [12] temperature plays the major role in regulating cambial activity and phenologic events in most plants, while the availability of water in dry conditions is the limiting factor.

The study of Prosopis wood anatomy and its relationship with environmental conditions is a good opportunity to increase the knowledge on effect of weather condition to wood because it comprises about 44 species of trees and shrubs grown naturally in arid and semi-arid zones of the world [13-16]. Wood anatomical characteristics of Prosopis species have been described by [16-23] and some differences in pore distribution, fiber length, vessel diameter, and lumber area have been found because of multiple environmental conditions where the species grow. The main objective of the present study is to determine the anatomical characteristics of wood from P. laevigata that grow in two different environmental conditions in Northeast Mexico.

2. Materials and Methods

2.1. Description of the Study Area

The study was developed in Northeast Mexico, the climate is classified as semi-dry to moderate warm, the average annual temperature from the whole area ranges from 14.7˚C to 22.0˚C, the average annual precipitation is from 400 to 812 mm and potential evapotranspiration is estimated on 1150 mm, the rain season is in the summer, but it is interrupted by a dry period [24,25]. The native vegetation is classified as Tamaulipan thornscrub [26]. The origin of rocky type soils are Upper Cretaceous, rich in calcite and dolomite, the dominant soils are deep, dark grey, lime-clay vertisol results from alluvial and colluvial processes, high clay and calcium carbonate content, a pH from 7.0 to 8.0, and low organic matter content.

Figure 1 shows the two study areas selected. The selection was done according to areas with higher differential in rain precipitation and temperature in the Northeast distribution of P. laevigata species. Table 1 shows the climatic conditions of Rancho Saltilleros municipality of China and La Reforma municipality of Linares, both in Nuevo León, Mexico.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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