Correlation between Wood Functional Traits and Growth Rate of 10 Planted Canopy Tree Species in Malaysia

We analyzed the relationship between wood functional traits and growth rate in 10 canopy tree species in ~20-year-old plantations in Perak, Malaysia.Wood density, water content, vessel diameter, vessel frequency, and vessel area fraction in xylem cross-sections were measured.Diameter growth rate correlated negatively with wood density, whereas vessel diameter and area fraction corelated positively with diameter growth rate.Higher wood density reflects greater carbon investment in wood construction and may restrict volume growth.In contrast, high photosynthetic performance requires substantial water-transport capacity to support transpiration, suggesting that growth rate increases with vessel diameter and area fraction.Height growth rate, however, correlated positively only with vessel diameter.Overall, wood density and vessel traits associated with water conductivity may serve as indicators for predicting growth rate in tropical rainforest trees.