Differences in morpho-physiological leaf traits reflect the response of growth to drought in a seeder but not in a resprouter Mediterranean species

2012 ◽  
Vol 39 (4) ◽  
pp. 332 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Ramírez ◽  
Antonio Parra ◽  
Víctor Resco de Dios ◽  
José M. Moreno

Understanding the mechanisms underlying the response of different plant functional types to current and projected changes in rainfall is particularly important in drought-prone areas like the Mediterranean. Here, we report the responses of two species with contrasting leaf characteristics and post-fire regeneration strategies (Cistus ladanifer L., malacophyllous, seeder; Erica arborea L., sclerophyllous, resprouter) to a manipulative field experiment that simulated a severe drought (45% reduction of historical average rainfall). We measured monthly changes in relative growth rate (RGR), specific leaf area (SLA), bulk leaf carbon isotope composition (δ13C), predawn water potential (Ψpd), photosynthetic gas exchange, bulk modulus of elasticity and osmotic potential at maximum turgor (π). Temporal (monthly) changes in RGR of C. ladanifer were correlated with all measured leaf traits (except π) and followed Ψpd variation. However, the temporal pattern of RGR in E. arborea was largely unrelated to water availability. SLA monthly variation reflected RGR variation reasonably well in C. ladanifer, but not in E. arborea, in which shoot growth and δ13C increased at the time of maximum water stress in late summer. The relationship between water availability, and RGR and carbon assimilation in C. ladanifer, and the lack of any relationship in E. arborea suggest that the former has an enhanced capacity to harness unpredictable rainfall pulses compared with the latter. These contrasting responses to water availability indicate that the projected changes in rainfall with global warming could alter the competitive ability of these two species, and contribute to changes in plant dominance in Mediterranean shrublands.

2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 07-16 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miguel Angelo Branco Camargo ◽  
Ricardo Antonio Marenco

Crabwood (Carapa guianensis Aubl.) is a fast growing tree species with many uses among Amazonian local communities. The main objective of this study was to assess the effect of seasonal rainfall pattern on growth rates, and seasonal and diurnal changes in leaf gas exchange and leaf water potential (ΨL) in crabwood. To assess the effect of rainfall seasonality on growth and physiological leaf traits an experiment was conducted in Manaus, AM (03º 05' 30" S, 59º 59' 35" S). In this experiment, six 6-m tall plants were used to assess photosynthetic traits and ΨL. In a second experiment the effect of growth irradiance on stomatal density (S D), size (S S) and leaf thickness was assessed in 0.8-m tall saplings. Stomatal conductance (g s) and light-saturated photosynthesis (Amax) were higher in the wet season, and between 09:00 and 15:00 h. However, no effect of rainfall seasonality was found on ΨL and potential photosynthesis (CO2-saturated). ΨL declined from -0.3 MPa early in the morning to -0.75 MPa after midday. It increased in the afternoon but did not reach full recovery at sunset. Growth rates of crabwood were high, and similar in both seasons (2 mm month-1). Leaf thickness and S D were 19% and 47% higher in sun than in shade plants, whereas the opposite was true for S S. We conclude that ΨL greatly affects carbon assimilation of crabwood by reducing g s at noon, although this effect is not reflected on growth rates indicating that other factors offset the effect of g s on Amax.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuhang Liu ◽  
Zhongqun He ◽  
Yongdong Xie ◽  
Lihong Su ◽  
Ruijie Zhang ◽  
...  

Abstract A pot experiment was conducted to investigate the growth, physiological changes and mechanism of drought resistance of Phedimus aizoon L. under different levels of water content .CK: 75% ~ 80% of the MWHC (maximum water holding capacity), Mild drought: 55% ~ 60%, Moderate drought: 40% ~ 45%, Severe drought: 20% ~ 25%.We observed that the plants grew normally in the first two treatments, even the mild drought promoted the growth of the roots. In the last two treatments, drought stress had a significant negative effect on plant growth, at the same time, Phedimus aizoon L. also made positive physiological response to cope with the drought: The aboveground part of the plant (leaf, plant height, stem diameter) was smaller, the waxy layer of the leaves was thickened, the stomata of the leaves were closed during the day, and only a few stomata were opened at night, which proved that the dark reaction cycle metabolism mode of the plant was transformed from C3 cycle to CAM pathway. The activity of antioxidant enzymes (SOD, POD and CAT) was continuously increased to alleviate the damage caused by drought. To ensure the relative stability of osmotic potential, the contents of osmoregulation substances such as proline, soluble sugar, soluble protein and trehalose increased correspondingly. But plants have limited regulatory power, with aggravation of drought stress degree and extension of stress time, the MDA content and electrolyte leakage of leaves increased continuously. Observed under electron microscope,the morphology of chloroplast and mitochondria changed and the membrane structure was destroyed. The plant's photosynthetic and respiratory mechanisms are destroyed and the plant gradually die.


2022 ◽  
pp. 4-17
Author(s):  
T. M. DeJong

Abstract This chapter focuses on energy capture and carbon assimilation of fruit trees. It discusses the factors affecting photosynthesis and respiration, including temperature, carbon dioxide concentration, nutrient supply, water availability, oxygen, and carbohydrates.


1988 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 121-125 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Mulvaney ◽  
David A. Peel

High-resolution anion profiles of Cl-, NO3- and SO4 2− are presented for two cores from the Antarctic Peninsula. A 47.2 m core from a site on the Palmer Land plateau (74°01’S, 70°38’W), spans the period 1942–80, and a 10.5 m core from Dolleman Island (70°35.2’S, 60°55.5’W), on the east coast of the peninsula, spans the period 1973–85. The seasonal pattern of deposition of these species has been determined by reference to the oxygen-isotope composition. Averaged over 38 years, the annual cycle of SO4 2− at Gomez shows a seasonal maximum during the austral summer, and minimum during the winter, whereas the Cl- cycle is more complex and may show the influence of equinoctial storms. The Dolleman core is significantly influenced by the proximity of the Weddell Sea, with a mean Cl- concentration five times greater than in the core from the plateau, and it shows a clear seasonal maximum in late-summer snowfall. There is no significant long-term trend in the 38 years’ data from the plateau site, suggesting that global pollution does not contribute significantly to the anion budget. Both anions and the cations Na+, K+ and H+ have been measured for more than a complete year of snowfall and the balance of ionic species is excellent.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (23) ◽  
pp. 4627-4645 ◽  
Author(s):  
Boris Bonn ◽  
Ruth-Kristina Magh ◽  
Joseph Rombach ◽  
Jürgen Kreuzwieser

Abstract. Emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by biogenic sources depend on different environmental conditions. Besides temperature and photosynthetic active radiation (PAR), the available soil water can be a major factor controlling the emission flux. This factor is expected to become more important under future climate conditions, including prolonged drying–wetting cycles. In this paper we use results of available studies on different tree types to set up a parameterization describing the influence of soil water availability (SWA) on different isoprenoid emission rates. Investigating SWA effects on isoprene (C5H8), monoterpene (C10H16) and sesquiterpene (C15H24) emissions separately, it is obvious that different plant processes seem to control the individual emission fluxes, providing a measure to which plants can react to stresses and interact. The SWA impact on isoprene emissions is well described by a biological growth type curve, while the sum of monoterpenes displays a hydraulic conductivity pattern reflecting the plant's stomata opening. However, emissions of individual monoterpene structures behave differently to the total sum, i.e., the emissions of some increase, whereas others decline at decreasing SWA. In addition to a rather similar behavior to that of monoterpene emissions, total sesquiterpene fluxes of species adapted to drought stress tend to reveal a rise close to the wilting point, protecting against oxidative damages. Considering further VOCs as well, the total sum of VOCs tends to increase at the start of severe drought conditions until resources decline. In contrast to declining soil water availability, OH and ozone reactivity are enhanced. Based on these observations, a set of plant protection mechanisms are displayed for fighting drought stress and imply notable feedbacks on atmospheric processes such as ozone, aerosol particles and cloud properties. With increasing lengths of drought periods, declining storage pools and plant structure effects yield different emission mixtures and strengths. This drought feedback effect is definitely worth consideration in climate feedback descriptions and for accurate climate predictions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (13) ◽  
pp. 2557-2572 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Boese ◽  
Martin Jung ◽  
Nuno Carvalhais ◽  
Adriaan J. Teuling ◽  
Markus Reichstein

Abstract. Water-use efficiency (WUE), defined as the ratio of carbon assimilation over evapotranspiration (ET), is a key metric to assess ecosystem functioning in response to environmental conditions. It remains unclear which factors control this ratio during periods of extended water limitation. Here, we used dry-down events occurring at eddy-covariance flux tower sites in the FLUXNET database as natural experiments to assess if and how decreasing soil-water availability modifies WUE at ecosystem scale. WUE models were evaluated by their performance to predict ET from both the gross primary productivity (GPP), which characterizes carbon assimilation at ecosystem scale, and environmental variables. We first compared two water-use efficiency models: the first was based on the concept of a constant underlying water-use efficiency, and the second augmented the first with a previously detected direct influence of radiation on transpiration. Both models predicting ET strictly from atmospheric covariates failed to reproduce observed ET dynamics for these periods, as they did not explicitly account for the effect of soil-water limitation. We demonstrate that an ET-attenuating soil-water-availability factor in junction with the additional radiation term was necessary to accurately predict ET flux magnitudes and dry-down lengths of these water-limited periods. In an analysis of the attenuation of ET for the 31 included FLUXNET sites, up to 50 % of the observed decline in ET was due to the soil-water-availability effect we identified in this study. We conclude by noting that the rates of ET decline differ significantly between sites with different vegetation and climate types and discuss the dependency of this rate on the variability of seasonal dryness.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (14) ◽  
pp. 3431-3444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Na Zhao ◽  
Ping Meng ◽  
Yabing He ◽  
Xinxiao Yu

Abstract. In the context of global warming attributable to the increasing levels of CO2, severe drought may be more frequent in areas that already experience chronic water shortages (semiarid areas). This necessitates research on the interactions between increased levels of CO2 and drought and their effect on plant photosynthesis. It is commonly reported that 13C fractionation occurs as CO2 gas diffuses from the atmosphere to the substomatal cavity. Few researchers have investigated 13C fractionation at the site of carboxylation to cytoplasm before sugars are exported outward from the leaf. This process typically progresses in response to variations in environmental conditions (i.e., CO2 concentrations and water stress), including in their interaction. Therefore, saplings of two typical plant species (Platycladus orientalis and Quercus variabilis) from semiarid areas of northern China were selected and cultivated in growth chambers with orthogonal treatments (four CO2 concentration ([CO2])  ×  five soil volumetric water content (SWC)). The δ13C of water-soluble compounds extracted from leaves of saplings was determined for an assessment of instantaneous water use efficiency (WUEcp) after cultivation. Instantaneous water use efficiency derived from gas-exchange measurements (WUEge) was integrated to estimate differences in δ13C signal variation before leaf-level translocation of primary assimilates. The WUEge values in P. orientalis and Q.  variabilis both decreased with increased soil moisture at 35–80 % of field capacity (FC) and increased with elevated [CO2] by increasing photosynthetic capacity and reducing transpiration. Instantaneous water use efficiency (iWUE) according to environmental changes differed between the two species. The WUEge in P. orientalis was significantly greater than that in Q. variabilis, while an opposite tendency was observed when comparing WUEcp between the two species. Total 13C fractionation at the site of carboxylation to cytoplasm before sugar export (total 13C fractionation) was species-specific, as demonstrated in the interaction of [CO2] and SWC. Rising [CO2] coupled with moistened soil generated increasing disparities in δ13C between water-soluble compounds (δ13CWSC) and estimates based on gas-exchange observations (δ13Cobs) in P. orientalis, ranging between 0.0328 and 0.0472 ‰. Differences between δ13CWSC and δ13Cobs in Q. variabilis increased as [CO2] and SWC increased (0.0384–0.0466 ‰). The 13C fractionation from mesophyll conductance (gm) and post-carboxylation both contributed to the total 13C fractionation that was determined by δ13C of water-soluble compounds and gas-exchange measurements. Total 13C fractionation was linearly dependent on stomatal conductance, indicating that post-carboxylation fractionation could be attributed to environmental variation. The magnitude and environmental dependence of apparent post-carboxylation fractionation is worth our attention when addressing photosynthetic fractionation.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 484 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Carlos Ferreira Melo Júnior ◽  
Maick William Amorim ◽  
Igor Abba Arriola ◽  
Jessica Stefani Dirksen ◽  
Fernando Andreacci

Structural adjustments in plants may occur in response to environmental constraints, which may influence plant growth and development, as well as patterns of species coexistence. The present study aimed to evaluate the plastic responses of Tibouchina clavata (Melastomataceae) occurring in two forest formations governed by different environmental conditions. Ten leaves of ten individuals were collected in each formation, for a total of n = 100 per area. as were stem samples, for measuring architectural, morphological and foliar traits. Environmental variables considered included edaphic nutrition, water availability and light radiation. The phenotypic plasticity index was calculated for each trait. Morphoanatomical traits varied among populations with greater emphasis on plant height and stem diameter, in contrast to the lower variation observed for leaf traits. Foliar morphoanatomy met the expected pattern for plants that grow under conditions of greater luminosity. Greater development of the aerial system (height and diameter of the stem) was observed in the plants of the ombrophilous forest, indicating that this growth is related to the soil fertility and water availability. The phenotypic plasticity index indicates low plasticity for T. clavata in the geographic distribution studied.


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