Exchanges of energy, materials and information between organisms and their environments are ecological processes, which are fundamentally metabolic. Therefore this study focuses on the ontogenetic change of whole-plant respiration from seeds to current-year seedlings of Fagus crenata Blume in a pot-experiment, which were collected from Mt. Gassan, Japan. We compared whole-plant respiratory traits of seedlings, including roots, grown in two different light environments, i.e. open (no shading) and shaded (70% shading). The results showed that different light environments generated a shift of energy and material allocation to above- and below-ground parts of individual seedlings. We will continue to observe the impact of the shading on the adaptability of individual current-year seedlings including roots.
The ontogenetic change of energy allocation of whole plants to above- and below-ground parts related with the balance between carbon-acquisition and water-uptake. The whole-plant physiological study provides an intelligible understanding about ecological adaptation of seedlings as terrestrial plants.