Shoot growth of woody trees and shrubs is predicted by maximum plant height and associated traits

1. The rate of elongation and thickening of individual branches (shoots) varies across plant species. This variation is important for the outcome of competition and other plant-plant interactions. Here we compared rates of shoot growth across 44 species from tropical, warm temperate, and cool temperate forests of eastern Australia. 2. Shoot growth rate was found to correlate with a suite of traits including the potential height of the species, xylem-specific conductivity, leaf size, leaf area per xylem cross-section, twig diameter (at 40 cm length), wood density and modulus of elasticity. 3. Within this suite of traits, maximum plant height was the clearest correlate of growth rates, explaining 50 to 67% of the variation in growth overall (p < 0.0001), and 23 to 32% of the variation (p < 0.05) in growth when holding the influence of the other traits constant. Structural equation models suggest that traits associated with ‘hydraulics’, ‘biomechanics’, and the ‘leaf economics spe...