Variation, coordination, and trade-offs between needle structures and photosynthetic-related traits across five Picea species: Consequences on plant growth
Date
2022
Authors
Wang, Junchen
Ouyang, Fangqun
An, Sanping
Wang, Lifang
Xu, Na
Ma, Jianwei
Wang, Junhui
Zhang, Hanguo
Kong, Lisheng
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
BMC Plant Biology
Abstract
Background: Picea species are distributed and planted world-wide due to their great ecological and economic values.
It has been reported that Picea species vary widely in growth traits in a given environment, which reflects genetic
and phenotypic differences among species. However, key physiological processes underlying tree growth and the
influencing factors on them are still unknown.
Results: Here, we examined needle structures, needle chemical components, physiological characteristics and
growth traits across five Picea species in a common garden in Tianshui, Gansu province in China: Picea glauca, P. mariana,
P. likiangensis, P. koraiensis, and P. crassifolia, among which P. glauca and P. mariana were introduced from North
America, P. likiangensis was from Lijiang, Yunan province in China, P. koraiensis was from Yichun, Heilongjiang province
in China, and P. crassifolia was native to the experimental site. It was found that nearly all traits varied significantly
among species. Tissue-level anatomical characteristics and leaf mass per area (LMA) were affected by needle size, but
the variations of them were not associated with the variations in photosynthetic and biochemical capacity among
species. Variations in area-based maximum photosynthesis (Pnmax) were affected by stomatal conductance (gs), mesophyll
conductance (gm) and biochemical parameters including maximum carboxylation rate (Vcmax), and maximum
electron transport rate (Jmax). The fraction of N allocated to different photosynthetic apparatus displayed contrasting
values among species, which contributed to the species variations in photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE)
and Pnmax.
Additionally, all growth traits were positively correlated with Pnmax
and PNUE.
Conclusion: Needle structures are less important than needle biochemical parameters in determining the variations
in photosynthetic capacity across the five Picea species. Pnmax
and PNUE are closedly associated with the fraction of N allocated to photosynthetic apparatus (Pphoto) compared with leaf N content per area (Narea). The tremendous growth
differences among the five Picea species were substantially related to the interspecies variation in Pnmax
and PNUE.
Description
Keywords
Needle structures, Biochemical parameters, Photosynthetic capacity, Photosynthetic N allocation, PNUE, Tree growth, Centre for Forest Biology
Citation
Wang, J., Ouyang, F., An, S., Wang, L., Xu, N., Ma, J., . . . Kong, L. (2022). “Variation, coordination, and trade-offs between needle structures and photosynthetic-related traits across five Picea species: Consequences on plant growth.” BMC Plant Biology, 22(242). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12870-022-03593-x