Petiole mechanics of coexisting tree species in a warm-temperate forest understory in relation to leaf size, leaf habit, and leaf form

Petiole mechanics of coexisting tree species in a warm-temperate forest understory in relation to leaf size, leaf habit, and leaf form | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Petiole mechanics of coexisting tree species in a warm-temperate forest understory in relation to leaf size, leaf habit, and leaf form Norihito Takai, Noriyuki Osada This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-7589095/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Oecologia → Version 1 posted 4 You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Petiole mechanics is essential for displaying leaf lamina efficiently in a shaded forest understory. We investigated the structure, anatomy, and mechanics of the petioles of 25 coexisting woody species in a warm-temperate forest understory and related them to interspecific differences in leaf size, habit (evergreen vs deciduous leaves), and form (simple vs compound leaves). Flexural stiffness of the petioles was greater in large leaves than in small leaves, in evergreen leaves than in deciduous leaves of similar area, and in compound leaves than in simple leaves of similar area. Greater second-order moment of area of petioles was responsible for greater flexural stiffness for species with large leaves and evergreen species. In contrast, the petioles of compound leaves showed a greater modulus of elasticity, but a smaller second-order moment of area compared to those of simple leaves of similar leaf area. Anatomical properties were related to the flexural stiffness and resulted in different biomass costs of the petioles. These results imply that the petioles of compound leaves are analogous to laterally growing branches, in which the increase in density is theoretically efficient regarding the mass needed to produce a branch of a given length. Therefore, different factors constrained the flexural stiffness of petioles among coexisting species of different leaf groups. Anatomy Compound leaves Deciduous species Evergreen species Simple leaves Full Text Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 02 Dec, 2025 Read the published version in Oecologia → Version 1 posted Reviewers agreed at journal 02 Oct, 2025 Reviewers invited by journal 18 Sep, 2025 Editor assigned by journal 12 Sep, 2025 First submitted to journal 10 Sep, 2025 You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. 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Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-7589095","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":517258175,"identity":"b1ad2582-de3d-4689-af1b-2af07ab51341","order_by":0,"name":"Norihito Takai","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Meijo University","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Norihito","middleName":"","lastName":"Takai","suffix":""},{"id":517258176,"identity":"fa128c9a-af7f-4248-b15b-9b8028922885","order_by":1,"name":"Noriyuki 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