The Relationship between Growth Rate and Emergence in Seedlings of Picea Engelmannii Parry
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ABSTRACT
Nursery-grown seedlings of Engelmann spruce were divided into two lots which differed only in fertilizer application, fertilized and unfertilized, when transplanted into a field trial. The seedlings fertilized in the field had faster growth rates and the focus of this study was to explore the relationship between growth rate and the degree of emergence defined as the difference in descriptions between parts and wholes. Seedling growth is the result, and thus a measurement of, energy fixation and flow; emergence is one manifestation of the transformation of matter, the expression of information which accompanies energy flow. This study explores Taborsky’s (1999) argument linking the flow of energy to the transformation of matter (expression of information); a more rapid flow of energy should give a greater transformation of matter and expression of information. The faster growing seedlings did show a higher degree of emergence thereby offering a verification of Taborsky’s (1999) suggestions. This, in turn, provides grounds for suggesting that ontogeny results from the flow of energy and the subsequent transformation of matter, an interpretation that places ontogeny in the realm of events explained by natural laws, i.e., it is inevitable.