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Measuring the impact of flooding on Amazonian trees: photosynthetic response models for ten species flooded by hydroelectric dams

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Abstract

Increasing areas of Amazonian forest are coming under flood stress due to dam construction and greater variability in river flood levels due to climate change. The physiological responses of Amazonian trees subjected to flooding are important to understand the consequences of these changes. Irradiance response curves for photosynthesis obtained from ten tropical tree species growing in flooded areas were used to fit three empirical models. The study was done in floodplains along the Uatumã River, both upstream and downstream of the Balbina Hydroelectric Dam in Brazil’s state of Amazonas (01°55′S; 59°28′W). Ten species were studied. Models compared were: non-rectangular hyperbola, rectangular hyperbola, and exponential. All models were quantitatively adequate for fitting the response of measured data on photosynthesis to irradiance for all ten species in the non-flooding and flooding periods. Considerable variation was found among the model estimates of maximum photosynthesis (P nmax), dark respiration (R d) and apparent quantum yield of photosynthesis (α). For photosynthesis, the two hyperbolas overestimated P nmax while EXP presented more realistic values. For estimating R d, RH presented the most realistic values. To avoid unrealistic value estimates of R d, we recommend adding measured R d values to the regressions. The results suggest that the EXP model presented the most realistic P nmax and α values, and, in spite of less accuracy in fitting photosynthetic irradiance curves than the RH model, it can be recommended for accessing the information used in photosynthetic irradiance curves for the leaves of tropical trees growing in Amazonian floodplains or in areas that are artificially flooded by dams.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq); the Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado do Amazonas (FAPEAM), the Large-Scale Atmosphere-Biosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA), the Instituto Chico Mendes (ICMBio), the Manaus Energia, the IBAMA, and the entire team of the Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry. J.F.C Gonçalves and P.M. Fearnside acknowledge fellowships provided by CNPq.

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  1. National Institute for Research in the Amazon (MCTI-INPA), Laboratory of Plant Physiology and Biochemistry, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

    U. M. dos Santos Junior & J. F. de Carvalho Gonçalves

  2. National Institute for Research in the Amazon (MCTI-INPA), Department of Ecology, Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil

    Philip Martin Fearnside

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  1. U. M. dos Santos Junior
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  2. J. F. de Carvalho Gonçalves
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  3. Philip Martin Fearnside
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Correspondence to J. F. de Carvalho Gonçalves.

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Communicated by E. Priesack.

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dos Santos Junior, U.M., de Carvalho Gonçalves, J.F. & Fearnside, P.M. Measuring the impact of flooding on Amazonian trees: photosynthetic response models for ten species flooded by hydroelectric dams. Trees 27, 193–210 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-012-0788-2

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