XVI International Botanical Congess

We found that seedling relative growth rate is negatively correlated with genome size and positively correlated with invasiveness of thirty pine species. Relative growth rate has two components: leaf area ratio and net assimilation rate. Leaf area ratio, the major contributor to relative growth rate in pines, was negatively correlated with genome size while net assimilation had no correlation with genome size. Ecologists have noted the negative correlation between seed size and relative growth rate, as well as the positive correlation between seed size and genome size. Using path analysis, we found that seed size does not directly influence relative growth rate. Instead, we hypothesize the following causal chain: genome size (+) --> seed size (-) --> specific leaf area (+) --> leaf area ratio (+) --> relative growth rate (+) --> invasiveness in disturbed areas.