Severe frost but not shade could limit the future growing season of Erythronium americanum

Changes in climate are leading to modifications in the timing of seasonal events such as migrations and flowering. Erythronium americanum (trout lily) can break bud early in response to warming, but changes to its growing season may be limited by early shade from canopy trees and frost. I experimentally assessed the impact of shade and frost on senescence in E. americanum and descriptively monitored the response of E. americanum to vernal air and soil temperatures in a garden setting. Early shade did not affect the timing of senescence. Experimental exposure to frost resulted in increased leaf damage, earlier senescence, and greater corm death than in control plants. Despite ten days in which the air temperature dropped below freezing, there was no evidence of leaf damage in the field. These results suggest that early shade from canopy trees will not hasten the end of the future growing season for E. americanum, but that late frost could bring about early senescence if that frost is sufficiently hard.

Canopy effects on abundance and leaf traits of a spring ephemeral: Erythronium americanum

Spring ephemerals take advantage of the high light levels available in the spring by completing the aboveground portion of their lifecycle before the canopy develops and while few other understory plant species are growing. The spring is marked by high resource availability, yet spring ephemerals are variably abundant throughout forests. Research indicates that canopy conditions can influence the growth of spring ephemerals; consequently, we tested whether the variation in canopy conditions predicted variation in the abundance of Erythronium americanum Ker Gawl. across 50 forest plots. We also tested whether the specific leaf area (SLA) of E. americanum in plots was predicted by variation in plot-level canopy conditions, reflecting E. americanum‘s ability to adapt to different canopy conditions. The abundance of E. americanum was significantly lower in the plots with greater hard canopy closure (i.e., permanent cover: tree architecture + evergreen leaf cover), and significantly higher under canopies that reached full development earlier. Canopies with greater hard canopy cover at the start of the growing season were associated with significantly higher SLA, quantifying local adaptation by E. americanum to variable canopy conditions. Erythronium americanum takes advantage of the high light levels available in the spring. It is unclear at this time why higher abundance of E. americanum is associated with canopies that close earlier.

Thermal acclimation of leaf respiration as a way to reduce source–sink imbalance at low temperatures in Erythronium americanum, a spring ephemeral

Many spring geophytes exhibit greater growth at colder than at warmer temperatures. Previous studies have suggested that there is less disequilibrium between source and sink activity at low temperatures, which delays leaf senescence and leads to higher accumulation of biomass in the perennial organ. We hypothesized that dark respiration acclimates to temperature at both the leaf and bulb levels, mainly via the alternative respiratory pathway, as a way to reduce source–sink imbalance. Erythronium americanum Ker-Gawl. was grown under three temperature regimes: 8/6 °C, 12/8 °C, and 18/14 °C (day/night). Plant respiratory rates were measured at both growth and common temperatures to determine whether differences were due to the direct effects of temperature on respiratory rates or to acclimation. Leaf dark respiration exhibited homeostasis, which together with lower assimilation at low growth temperature, most likely reduced the quantity of C available for translocation to the bulb. No temperature acclimation was visible at the sink level. However, bulb total respiration varied through time, suggesting potential stimulation of bulb respiration as sink limitation builds up. In conclusion, acclimation of respiration at the leaf level could partly explain the better equilibrium between source and sink activity in plants grown in low-temperatures, whereas bulb respiration responds to source–sink imbalance.

Photoperiod has a stronger impact than irradiance on the source–sink relationships in the sink-limited species Erythronium americanum

Under sink-limited conditions, source activity is modulated to remain in balance with the use of carbohydrates by the sink, but this feedback control has been studied in only a few systems so far. Sink and source activities were investigated throughout the season. Plants were subjected to two photoperiod regimes combined with two irradiance levels to produce three different daily amounts of photons. Net photosynthetic rate and the photochemical efficiency of photosynthesis were initially higher under a long photoperiod, but decreased early in the growth season, whereas they remained fairly constant until a few days before leaf senescence under a short photoperiod. The rates of starch and biomass accumulation in the bulb were also faster under a long photoperiod at the beginning of the season but reached similar levels under both short and long photoperiods later on. Response to photoperiod cannot be explained by changes in daily amounts of photons, as none of the variables reported were affected by instantaneous or daily irradiance. It appears that the total amount of carbohydrate synthesized under a long photoperiod was in excess compared to the ability of the sink to store or use them, inducing a feedback inhibition of net photosynthetic rate to restore the source–sink balance.