The effect of competition and slope inclination on aboveground biomass allocation of understorey ferns in subtropical forest

In tropical evergreen broadleaved forest in China, ferns from dense herbaceous understoreys had taller petioles and allocated significantly more biomass to supporting tissue relative to photosynthetically active leaf tissue than those from open stands. The relative amount of biomass allocated to veins was not significantly affected by stand-density. In dense stands the inclination of the slope had no significant additional effect on the pattern of aboveground biomass allocation or on petiole length. -from Authors