Comparación de la gravedad específica y características anatómicas de la madera de dos comunidades vegetales en México

Abstract

BASIC SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND SOME MICROSCOPIC WOOD CHARACTERISTICS SUCH AS LENGTH OF VESSEL ELEMENTS AND FIBRES, TANGENTIAL DIAMETER OF VESSELS, VESSEL FREQUENCY, RAY FREQUENCY AND FIBRE WALL THICKNESS OF 29 SPECIES FROM A CLOUD FOREST FROM THE STATE OF MEXICO AS WELL AS 26 SPECIES FROM A XEROPHYTIC REGION FROM THE STATE OF PUEBLA WERE OBTAINED. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WOODS FROM THE TREES OF BOTH COMMUNITIES WERE COMPARED BY A STUDENT-T TEST WHOSE RESULTS SHOW SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES IN SPECIFIC GRAVITY, LENGTH OF VESSEL ELEMENTS, FIBRE LENGTH, AND FIBRE WALL THICKNESS. A PEARSON CORRELATION ANALYSIS FOR THE SPECIES OF EACH REGION, WAS PERFORMED, BETWEEN SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND FIBRE WALL THICKNESS, SHOWING THAT THERE IS A POSITIVE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND FIBRE WALL THICKNESS. IT IS CLEAR THAT SPECIES WITH THICK-WALLED FIBRES AND HIGH DENSITY WERE PREDOMINANT IN THE DRY FOREST, WHEREAS SPECIES WITH MEDIUM OR LOW SPECIFIC GRAVITY AND THIN-WALLED FIBRES WERE FOUND IN PLACES WITH HIGH HUMIDITY. THE HYPOTHESIS THAT MESOMORPHIC WOOD IN DRY ENVIRONMENT IS POSSIBLE DUE TO OTHER STRUCTURES OF THE PLANTS, SUCH AS ROOTS, BARKS AND SPECIALIZED LEAVES THAT CAN ACT LIKE A BUFFER, SOFTENING THE CLIMATIC INFLUENCE OVER THE WOOD STRUCTURE, COULD NOT BE DEMONSTRATED ON THE STUDIED SPECIES.