Dynamic of seasonal and annual secondary growth of trees in tropical rain forest in French Guiana ; Dynamique de croissance radiale saisonnière et annuelle des arbres en forêt tropicale humide guyanaise

The rainforest of French Guiana is located in the Amazonian region, which is a hotspot of biodiversity, thus leading to several issues about conservation in tropical forests. Knowledge of the age and growth rate of trees is essential to understand the dynamics of these ecosystems. However, due to the lack of winter conditions it is difficult to read the story in the wood of these tropical forests. In the topic of functional anatomy, this thesis intends through different approaches i) to monitor the cambial activity of four tree species during two years sampling micro-cores, ii) to make a dendrochronological study on a Guyanese species iii) to use the variation of the isotopic signature as a marker of growth (or history) and iv) to test air pollution following launches of the Ariane rocket as markers of growth. The bi-monthly review of cambial activity showed that all trees have almost alternating rest and high activity of cambium in both years. These downturns have been more pronounced in Parkia nitida (deciduous), Parkia velutina (deciduous) and Schefflera morototoni (evergreen). We observe periods of cambial activity downturn in two deciduous species as well as in an evergreen species. There is no universal pattern of connections in pairs between rainfall intra-annual phenology of leafing and cambial activity although strong similarities exist in each case between two species for a given association. The dendrochronological study in Parkia nitida highlights the presence of distinct annual growth rings. The limit is characterized by a thin band of marginal parenchyma containing numerous crystals of calcium oxalate. At tree scale, secondary growth is homogeneous and relatively synchronous within individuals of this species in the same location. However, the influence of tested climatic parameters, such as temperature and precipitation on the annual radial growth, is low over the considered period. The first two studies showed that, in the environment of French Guiana, marked annual seasonality of rainfall does ...