Are resources allocated differently to symbiosis and reproduction in Geranium sylvaticum under different light conditions?

2004 ◽  
Vol 82 (1) ◽  
pp. 89-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jarkko Korhonen ◽  
Minna-Maarit Kytöviita ◽  
Pirkko Siikamäki

Light levels under the forest canopy are low and generally limit plant photosynthetic gains. We hypothesized that in low-light habitats, plant photosynthate acquisition is too low to allow the same magnitude of resource allocation to symbiosis and reproduction as in high-light habitats. We tested this hypothesis in a field study where Geranium sylvaticum L. plants were collected on three occasions during the growing season from shade and light habitats. In addition, we investigated the relationship between mycorrhizal colonization level and soil nutrient levels in shade and high-light habitats over a growing season. We found that light availability affects resource allocation in G. sylvaticum. Plants were intensively colonized with both arbuscular mycorrhizal and dark septate fungi, and the colonization intensities of these two different groups of fungi correlated positively with each other. In comparison with high-light meadows, mycorrhizal colonization levels were as high or higher in low-light forest habitats, but plants produced fewer flowers. This indicates that allocation to symbiosis was of higher priority than allocation to reproduction in low light. Seed size was not affected by light levels and did not correlate with fungal colonization levels. We found no relationship between fungal colonization levels and soil characteristics.Key words: arbuscular mycorrhiza, dark septate fungi, Geranium sylvaticum, reproduction, shade.

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11587
Author(s):  
Alexander Brown ◽  
Robert W. Heckman

Light limitation is a major driver of succession and an important determinant of the performance of shade-intolerant tree seedlings. Shade intolerance may result from a resource allocation strategy characterized by rapid growth and high metabolic costs, which may make shade-intolerant species particularly sensitive to nutrient limitation and pathogen pressure. In this study, we evaluated the degree to which nitrogen availability and fungal pathogen pressure interact to influence plant performance across different light environments. To test this, we manipulated nitrogen availability (high, low) and access by foliar fungal pathogens (sprayed with fungicide, unsprayed) to seedlings of the shade-intolerant tree, Liquidambar styraciflua, growing at low and high light availability, from forest understory to adjacent old field. Foliar fungal damage varied with light and nitrogen availability; in low light, increasing nitrogen availability tripled foliar damage, suggesting that increased nutrient availability in low light makes plants more susceptible to disease. Despite higher foliar damage under low light, spraying fungicide to exclude pathogens promoted 14% greater plant height only under high light conditions. Thus, although nitrogen availability and pathogen pressure each influenced aspects of plant performance, these effects were context dependent and overwhelmed by light limitation. This suggests that failure of shade-intolerant species to invade closed-canopy forest can be explained by light limitation alone.


1990 ◽  
Vol 240 (1298) ◽  
pp. 279-293 ◽  

At high levels of ambient light, large monopolar cells (LMCS) display spatially antagonistic receptive fields and a biphasic response to a brief flash of light from an axially positioned point source. In low ambient light the response becomes monophasic everywhere within the receptive field. Using the theory of matched filters, we infer that the LMCS are optimal for the detection of moving edges at high light levels, and for ‘blobs’ in low ambient light. The spatio-temporal properties predicted by the theory are in agreement with experimental observation. At high light levels, the strong temporal inhibition, the weak, diffuse lateral inhibition, and the non-separability of the receptive field in space and time are all properties that promote the sensitivity to a moving edge. At low light levels, the lack of spatial or temporal antagonism enhances the sensitivity to a blob. Our hypothesis is reinforced by the observation that flies tend to walk toward the edges of a broad, dark vertical stripe at high light levels, but uniformly toward all regions within the stripe in low ambient light.


1998 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 871-886 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elaine F Wright ◽  
K Dave Coates ◽  
Charles D Canham ◽  
Paula Bartemucci

We characterize variation in radial and height growth of saplings of 11 tree species across a range of light levels in boreal, sub-boreal, subalpine, and temperate forests of northwestern British Columbia. Shade-tolerant species had the greatest response to an increase in light at low-light levels but had low asymptotic growth at high light. Shade-intolerant species had weaker responses to increases at low light but had the highest growth rates at high light. The effects of climate on intraspecific variation in sapling response to light were also related to shade tolerance: across different climatic regions, the most shade-tolerant species varied in their response to low-light but not high light, while shade-intolerant species varied only in their high-light growth. Species with intermediate shade tolerance varied both their amplitude of growth at high light and the slope of the growth response at low light. Despite the interspecific trade-offs between high- and low-light growth, there was a striking degree of overlap in the light response curves for the component species in virtually all of the climatic regions. Successional dynamics in these forests appear to be more strongly governed by interspecific variation in sapling survival than growth.


Biosensors ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 105
Author(s):  
A. Peter Klimley

To ascertain how scalloped hammerhead sharks make nightly migrations to their feeding grounds as many as 20 km from their daytime abode, a seamount, a sensor was developed that measured irradiance intensity within the spectral range and sensitivity of the vision of the species. Could the sharks guide their movements by sensing the polarity of irradiation energy radiated from the sun or moon that penetrated into the oceanic depths? Two sensory receptors, cones and rods, are present in the retina of sharks to enable them to see both during daytime and nighttime. The peak sensitivity of the cones is red-shifted due to the presence of these wavelengths during the former period, while their response is linear under the range of the high light levels also present at this time; the peak sensitivity of rods is blue-shifted due to the presence of these wavelengths during dawn, dusk, and nighttime and is linear over the complementary range of low light levels. Spectral response curves for these two receptors were determined for sharks, and an attempt was made to match those of the sensors to the shark’s wavelength perception. The first sensor was matched to the photopic range using a photocell covered with a red-shifted gel filter; the second was matched to the scotopic range using a blue-shifted gel filter.


HortScience ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 254A-254
Author(s):  
Marvin Pritts ◽  
Dorcas Isuta

Previous findings reveal that rooting and acclimatization of apple and blueberry plants is often difficult, inconsistent and inefficient. This experiment was set up in a fog chamber lo investigate the effects of CO2 enrichment (CDE) and irradiance on unrooted stage II microshoots. Two CO2 and 3 light levels tested were: 1350 +/- 150 (+ CDE), and 450 +/- 50 (- CDE) ppm; 30 +/- 5 (low), 55 + 10 (medium), and 100 + 20 (high) umolm-2s-1 respectively. Cultivars assessed were Berkeley and Northsky for blueberry. G65 and NY30 for apple. Blueberry microshoots acclimatized successfully and gave between 90 to 100% rooting and survival rate. Apple microshoots acclimatized and rooted slowly, exhibited great sensitivity to in vivo conditions and gave between 40 to 100% rooting and survival rate. High light induced photo-inhibition which disappeared after complete acclimatization. There was a significant difference between low light and the other two light levels. The effect of CDE was dependent on cultivar. In most cases, high light (-) CDE gave the most vigorous growth (highest plant dry weight and leaf area). There was a significant difference between (+) CDE and (-) CDE at low and medium light, but none at high light. Low light (-) CDE and medium light (+) CDE were superior over low light (+) CDE and medium light (-) CDE. respectively. Stalling out in apple microshoots was corrected by GA sprays.


HortScience ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 37 (6) ◽  
pp. 954-958 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theresa Bosma ◽  
John M. Dole

Various postharvest treatments were evaluated for effect on longevity and quality of cut Campanula medium L. `Champion Blue' and `Champion Pink' stems. Stems stored at 2 °C either wet or dry had no difference in vase life or percent flowers opened; however, flowers stored dry had a slightly greater percentage of senesced flowers at termination. Increasing storage duration from 1 to 3 weeks decreased vase life. Stems pretreated for 4 hours with 38 °C floral solution (deionized water amended to pH 3.5 with citric acid and 200 mg·L-1 8-HQC) or a 1-MCP pulse followed by a 5% sucrose pulse solution produced the longest vase life (10.3 or 10.4 days, respectively). Flowers opening after treatments commenced were paler than those flowers already opened and a 24-hour pretreatment with 5% or 10% sucrose did not prevent this color reduction. Stems had an average vase life of only 3.3 days when placed in floral vase foam but lasted 10.0 days without foam. Optimum sucrose concentration was 1.0% to 2.0% for stems placed in 22 °C floral vase solution without foam and 4% for stems placed in foam. High (110 μmol·m-2·s-1) or low (10 μmol·m-2·s-1) light levels did not affect postharvest parameters, but the most recently opened flowers were paler under low light conditions than under high light conditions. Chemical names used: 8-hydroxyquinoline citrate (8-HQC); 1-methylcyclopropene (1-MCP).


2019 ◽  
Vol 65 (5) ◽  
pp. 637-643
Author(s):  
Lauren S Pile ◽  
Joanne Rebbeck ◽  
Patrick H Brose ◽  
Robert P Long

Abstract Species ranges are expected to move northward with climate warming. However, species will likely encounter soil conditions that differ from their historic ranges. Black (Quercus velutina) and chestnut (Q. montana) oaks are expected to do well in climates that are hotter and drier, but it is unknown as to how they respond to soils of different geological histories. At a glaciated and nonglaciated site in northwestern Pennsylvania, we compared the growth, biomass allocation, and mycorrhizal association for black and chestnut oak seedlings at two different levels of light. On nutrient-poor, nonglaciated soils at high light levels, both species had greater growth and biomass accumulation than on nutrient-rich, glaciated soils. However, at low light levels, these responses were greatest on glaciated soils, especially for chestnut oak. Although mycorrhizal association was beneficial on nonglaciated soil at high light levels, low light levels were associated with reduced growth when compared to glaciated soils. In low light and nutrient-poor soils, mycorrhizal association may result in a carbon sink with lower net photosynthesis, as carbon for plant growth is, instead, allocated to the mycorrhizae symbiont. Variable species response to soil types indicates reduced performance for black and chestnut oak seedlings on high-quality glaciated soils especially in high light environments.


1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 2172-2183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Pacala ◽  
Charles D. Canham ◽  
John A. Silander Jr. ◽  
Richard K. Kobe

Radial and height growth are characterized for saplings of 10 dominant tree species in a transition oak–northern hardwoods forest in southern New England. Growth of saplings in the field is regressed against measures of whole-season light availability, soil moisture, and sapling size. Statistical tests show strong effects of light availability on growth, but no significant effects of soil moisture. Comparison of the light-dependent growth functions for the 10 species revealed three apparent interspecific trade-offs. (i) Species growing quickly at high light tended to grow slowly at low light and vice versa. The order of species from fast growing at high light to fast growing at low light did not correspond to traditional classifications of shade tolerance, and variation along this axis was approximately continuous. (ii) There was substantial variation off the species continuum defined in i. At any point along the continuum from fast growth at high light to fast growth at low light, some species grew faster than others, and these faster growing species had lower survivorship during periods of suppression than the slower growing species. (iii) Height growth at high light was inversely related to survivorship when suppressed. This variation was again continuous (species did not cluster into discrete categories), but the order of the species did correspond closely to a traditional ordering of shade tolerance. There was little correspondence between our estimated growth functions and the growth functions assumed in the JABOWA–FORET class of forest simulation models. These results raise serious concerns about the current practice of assigning growth functions to species in simulation models using traditional classifications of shade tolerance.


2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 611-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjie Yang ◽  
Fude Liu ◽  
Lingyan Zhou ◽  
Shiting Zhang ◽  
Shuqing An

Abstract:We performed a pot experiment in which 540 seedlings of nine non-pioneer light-demanding tree species were grown for 12 months in shade houses at three light levels, 46% daylight, 13% daylight and 2% daylight, to examine the mechanisms contributing to the coexistence of seedlings of non-pioneer light-demanding tree species in secondary successional tropical rain forest in Hainan, China. Growth and survival of tree seedlings were compared at different light levels, and the morphological and physiological correlates of high-light seedling growth and low-light survival across species were determined. For all species, mortality was very low in the 46% daylight and 13% daylight treatment but increased significantly in the 2% daylight treatment. Seedling survival in 2% daylight treatment was positively related to seed mass. Trade-off between high-light growth and low-light survival was more evident in the relationship with 2% daylight treatment as compared with 13% daylight treatment. Relative growth rate in the 2% daylight treatment was not significantly related to relative growth rate in the 13% daylight or 46% daylight treatment; although a slight negative correlation was apparent. Interspecific variation in RGRm was only closely correlated with net assimilation rate (NAR). The results provide some support for the niche-partitioning hypothesis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inés Ibáñez ◽  
Sarah McCarthy-Neumann

Mycorrhizal fungi colonize tree seedlings shortly after germination, and the nature of this relationship (mutualistic to parasitic) has been reported to vary as a function of resources; however, this transition has rarely been quantified. Using a light gradient, we grew seedlings of eight tree species in soils that were cultivated by several co-existing species of trees. We used data on root mycorrhizal fungi to quantify colonization along the gradient of light. We then analyzed plant growth as a function of both the light gradient and the extent of mycorrhizal colonization. Mycorrhizal fungi colonization varied among species but was not correlated with the species’ seed sizes or shade tolerances. Within a species, colonization varied among soil sources, but those differences followed neither the conspecific–heterospecific dichotomy, nor the soil host’s arbuscular–ectomycorrhizal associations commonly reported. At high light levels, seedlings growth increased with increasing levels of colonization for seven species, and at low light levels, the effect of colonization was negative for five species. We also quantified the light threshold at which the plant – mycorrhizal fungi relationship shifted from neutral to positive (four species), from negative to neutral (one species), and from neutral to negative (one species), documenting differences among species that could exacerbate competitive interactions during recruitment.


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