scholarly journals Light alters the impacts of nitrogen and foliar pathogens on the performance of early successional tree seedlings

PeerJ ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. e11587
Author(s):  
Alexander Brown ◽  
Robert W. Heckman
Keyword(s):  
Fungal Pathogens ◽  
Nitrogen Availability ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
High Light ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Light Limitation ◽  
Tree Seedlings ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Foliar Damage

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.

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
Keyword(s):  
Resource Allocation ◽  
Forest Canopy ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
High Light ◽  
Mycorrhizal Colonization ◽  
Fungal Colonization ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Light Levels ◽  
Dark Septate Fungi

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.

Photoinactivation and recovery of photosystem II in Chenopodium album leaves grown at different levels of irradiance and nitrogen availability

2002 ◽  
Vol 29 (7) ◽  
pp. 787 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masaharu C. Kato ◽  
Kouki Hikosaka ◽  
Tadaki Hirose
Keyword(s):  
Photosystem Ii ◽  
Protein Turnover ◽  
Nitrogen Availability ◽  
Photosynthetic Capacity ◽  
Chenopodium Album ◽  
D1 Protein ◽  
High Light ◽  
High Nitrogen ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Low Nitrogen

Involvement of photosynthetic capacity and D1 protein turnover in the susceptibility of photosystem II (PSII) to photoinhibition was investigated in leaves of Chenopodium album L. grown at different combinations of irradiance and nitrogen availability: low light and high nitrogen (LL-HN); high light and low nitrogen (HL-LN); and high light and high nitrogen (HL-HN). To test the importance of photosynthetic capacity in the susceptibility to photoinhibition, we adjusted growth conditions so that HL-HN plants had the highest photosynthetic capacity, while that of LL-HN and HL-LN plants was lower but similar to each other. Photoinhibition refers here to net inactivation of PSII determined by the balance between gross inactivation (photoinactivation) and concurrent recovery of PSII via D1 protein turnover. Leaves were illuminated both in the presence and absence of lincomycin, an inhibitor of chloroplast-encoded protein synthesis. Susceptibility to photoinhibition was much higher in plants grown in low light (LL-HN) than those grown in high light (HL-HN and HL-LN). Susceptibility to photoinhibition was similar in HL-LN and HL-HN plants, suggesting that higher photosynthetic energy consumption alone did not mitigate photoinhibition. Experiments with and without lincomycin showed that high-light-grown plants had a lower rate of photoinactivation and a higher rate of concurrent recovery, and that these rates were not influenced by nitrogen availability. These results indicate that turnover of D1 protein plays a crucial role in photoprotection in high-light-grown plants, irrespective of nitrogen availability. For low-nitrogen-grown plants, higher light energy dissipation by other mechanisms may have compensated for lower energy utilization by photosynthesis.

Photosynthetic Performance of Invasive Vincetoxicum Species (Apocynaceae)

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 171-181 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristine M. Averill ◽  
Antonio DiTommaso ◽  
Thomas H. Whitlow ◽  
Lindsey R. Milbrath
Keyword(s):  
Common Garden ◽  
Forest Edge ◽  
Photosynthetic Performance ◽  
Habitat Associations ◽  
High Light ◽  
Forest Understory ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Specific Leaf Mass ◽  
Leaf Mass ◽  
Wide Range

Knowledge of photosynthetic capacity is crucial for fully understanding a species’ invasive potential and for the development of appropriate control strategies. Although growth and reproductive data are available for the invasive swallowwort vines Vincetoxicum nigrum and V. rossicum, photosynthetic data are wanting. These herbaceous, perennial congeners were introduced from separate European ranges during the late 19th century and became invasive during the following century in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Vincetoxicum nigrum has been observed growing mainly in high light environments, whereas V. rossicum occurs across a wide range of light environments, suggesting niche divergence and that different management strategies might be needed for the two species. In this work, we investigated whether the differing habitat associations of these species is reflected in their photosynthetic capacities and leaf morphology. Photosynthetic parameters and specific leaf mass were determined across a range of light environments represented by four field habitats (common garden, forest edge, old field, and forest understory) and two greenhouse environments (high and low light). In the high-light common garden habitat, V. nigrum achieved 37% higher maximum photosynthetic rates than V. rossicum, but photosynthetic performance of the two species was the same in the forest edge habitat. Additionally, species’ performance was virtually identical in high light, low light, and transitions between high and low light regimes in the greenhouse. Specific leaf mass of V. nigrum was 17% higher in the common garden and 19% higher in the greenhouse compared with V. rossicum. Both invasive Vincetoxicum spp. appear capable of growing within a broad range of light environments and their management should be similar regardless of light environment. Other explanations are required to explain the scarcity of V. nigrum in low light natural areas.

Sapling growth as a function of resources in a north temperate forest

1994 ◽  
Vol 24 (11) ◽  
pp. 2172-2183 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen W. Pacala ◽  
Charles D. Canham ◽  
John A. Silander Jr. ◽  
Richard K. Kobe
Keyword(s):  
Soil Moisture ◽  
Shade Tolerance ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Height Growth ◽  
High Light ◽  
Fast Growth ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Fast Growing ◽  
Growth Functions

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.

Trade-offs between growth and survival of non-pioneer light-demanding tree seedlings in tropical forest of Hainan Island, China

2011 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 611-620 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenjie Yang ◽  
Fude Liu ◽  
Lingyan Zhou ◽  
Shiting Zhang ◽  
Shuqing An
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Relative Growth Rate ◽  
Tree Species ◽  
Seed Mass ◽  
High Light ◽  
Tree Seedlings ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Relative Growth ◽  
Growth And Survival ◽  
Light Levels

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.

scholarly journals Effects of mycorrhizal fungi on tree seedling growth: quantifying the parasitism–mutualism transition along a light gradient

2016 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-57 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inés Ibáñez ◽  
Sarah McCarthy-Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Plant Growth ◽  
Mycorrhizal Fungi ◽  
High Light ◽  
Competitive Interactions ◽  
Tree Seedlings ◽  
Tree Seedling ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Light Levels ◽  
Light Gradient ◽  
Tree Seedling Growth

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.

Altering light availability to the plant host determined the identity of the dominant ectomycorrhizal fungal partners and mediated mycorrhizal effects on plant growth

Botany ◽  
2011 ◽  
Vol 89 (7) ◽  
pp. 439-450 ◽  
Author(s):  
Miroslav Kummel ◽  
Phoebe Lostroh
Keyword(s):  
Plant Growth ◽  
Root System ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
Abies Balsamea ◽  
System Size ◽  
High Light ◽  
Absolute Abundance ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Root System Size ◽  
The Absolute

Variation in light availability likely impacts the processes that determine the identity of ectomycorrhizal fungi associated with the host plant, and the resulting changes in fungal composition may modify the plant’s growth response to light. Our two field surveys and two field experiments using Abies balsamea (L.) Mill. seedlings show that the identity of the dominant ectomycorrhizal fungus changed in response to natural and experimentally induced variation in light. Plants in low light were mostly dominated by a Cenococcum -like morphotype, and plants in high light were mostly dominated by a Lactarius -like morphotype. The patterns of absolute abundance show the key role of plant size: the absolute abundance of the Lactarius-like morphotype increased with increasing light and increasing root system size, whereas the absolute abundance of the Cenococcum-like morphotype was unrelated to both variables. Root system size increased with light availability. With increasing light, growth of plants dominated by the Lactarius-like morphotype decreased with respect to average plants, and therefore, as the Lactarius-like morphotype was increasing in dominance, it was decreasing in mutualistic effectiveness. Plants dominated by Cenococcum had lower growth compared with plants dominated by Lactarius in low light. However, the effects of the two morphotypes were indistinguishable in high light. Our results are likely driven by an interaction of priority effects and light-limited plant growth.

scholarly journals Light environment drives evolution of color vision genes in butterflies and moths

2021 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yash Sondhi ◽  
Emily A. Ellis ◽  
Seth M. Bybee ◽  
Jamie C. Theobald ◽  
Akito Y. Kawahara
Keyword(s):  
Amino Acids ◽  
Color Vision ◽  
Light Availability ◽  
High Light ◽  
Light Environment ◽  
Evolution Rate ◽  
Animal Evolution ◽  
Light Sensing ◽  
Rates Of Evolution ◽  
Gains And Losses

AbstractOpsins, combined with a chromophore, are the primary light-sensing molecules in animals and are crucial for color vision. Throughout animal evolution, duplications and losses of opsin proteins are common, but it is unclear what is driving these gains and losses. Light availability is implicated, and dim environments are often associated with low opsin diversity and loss. Correlations between high opsin diversity and bright environments, however, are tenuous. To test if increased light availability is associated with opsin diversification, we examined diel niche and identified opsins using transcriptomes and genomes of 175 butterflies and moths (Lepidoptera). We found 14 independent opsin duplications associated with bright environments. Estimating their rates of evolution revealed that opsins from diurnal taxa evolve faster—at least 13 amino acids were identified with higher dN/dS rates, with a subset close enough to the chromophore to tune the opsin. These results demonstrate that high light availability increases opsin diversity and evolution rate in Lepidoptera.

Changes in the Stoichiometry of Photosystem II Components as an Adaptive Response to High-Light and Low-Light Conditions during Growth

1986 ◽  
Vol 41 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 597-603 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aloysius Wild ◽  
Matthias Höpfner ◽  
Wolfgang Rühle ◽  
Michael Richter
Keyword(s):  
Photosystem Ii ◽  
Functional Organization ◽  
Photosynthetic Apparatus ◽  
High Light ◽  
Molar Ratio ◽  
Light Conditions ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Pigment System ◽  
Transport Chain ◽  
The One

The effect of different growth light intensities (60 W·m-2, 6 W·m-2) on the performance of the photosynthetic apparatus of mustard plants (Sinapis alba L.) was studied. A distinct decrease in photosystem II content per chlorophyll under low-light conditions compared to high-light conditions was found. For P-680 as well as for Oᴀ and Oв protein the molar ratio between high-light and low-light plants was 1.4 whereas the respective concentrations per chlorophyll showed some variations for P-680 and Oᴀ on the one and Oв protein on the other hand.In addition to the study of photosystem II components, the concentrations of PQ, Cyt f, and P-700 were measured. The light regime during growth had no effect on the amount of P-700 per chlorophyll but there were large differences with respect to PQ and Cyt f. The molar ratio for Cyt f and PQ between high- and low-light leaves was 2.2 and 1.9, respectively.Two models are proposed, showing the functional organization of the pigment system and the electron transport chain in thylakoids of high-light and low-light leaves of mustard plants.

scholarly journals Effects of alkalinity and salinity at low and high light intensity on hydrogen isotope fractionation of long-chain alkenones produced by <i>Emiliania huxleyi</i>

2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (24) ◽  
pp. 5693-5704 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gabriella M. Weiss ◽  
Eva Y. Pfannerstill ◽  
Stefan Schouten ◽  
Jaap S. Sinninghe Damsté ◽  
Marcel T. J. van der Meer
Keyword(s):  
Light Intensity ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
Hydrogen Isotope ◽  
Isotope Fractionation ◽  
Emiliania Huxleyi ◽  
High Light Intensity ◽  
High Light ◽  
Light Conditions ◽  
Low Light ◽  
Long Chain

Abstract. Over the last decade, hydrogen isotopes of long-chain alkenones have been shown to be a promising proxy for reconstructing paleo sea surface salinity due to a strong hydrogen isotope fractionation response to salinity across different environmental conditions. However, to date, the decoupling of the effects of alkalinity and salinity, parameters that co-vary in the surface ocean, on hydrogen isotope fractionation of alkenones has not been assessed. Furthermore, as the alkenone-producing haptophyte, Emiliania huxleyi, is known to grow in large blooms under high light intensities, the effect of salinity on hydrogen isotope fractionation under these high irradiances is important to constrain before using δDC37 to reconstruct paleosalinity. Batch cultures of the marine haptophyte E. huxleyi strain CCMP 1516 were grown to investigate the hydrogen isotope fractionation response to salinity at high light intensity and independently assess the effects of salinity and alkalinity under low-light conditions. Our results suggest that alkalinity does not significantly influence hydrogen isotope fractionation of alkenones, but salinity does have a strong effect. Additionally, no significant difference was observed between the fractionation responses to salinity recorded in alkenones grown under both high- and low-light conditions. Comparison with previous studies suggests that the fractionation response to salinity in culture is similar under different environmental conditions, strengthening the use of hydrogen isotope fractionation as a paleosalinity proxy.

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