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Plant pigment cycles in the high-Arctic Spitsbergen

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Abstract

Plants in the high Arctic are exposed to a 24-h photoperiod for several months. These conditions can be damaging for plants at lower latitudes. When common crops are artificially maintained under continuous light (CL), photosynthetic processes maintain endogenous circadian rhythms, but it is unclear whether plants naturally acclimated to CL also maintain such rhythmicity. Alternatively, Arctic plants have to utilise the favourable conditions during the short Arctic summers. In this study, we evaluate the existence of daily cycles in pigment composition in three Arctic plants in a tundra ecosystem at 78 °N that display examples of different growth forms: the bryophyte Polytrichum hyperboreum, the herb Bistorta vivipara and the dwarf shrub Salix polaris. Changes in pigment composition are excellent indicators of the restructuring of the light-harvesting apparatus. Most pigment parameters analysed did not show any consistent pattern of variation between subjective noon and midnight. P. hyperboreum had the highest level of rhythmicity, while S. polaris was the most stable. Despite these subtle changes, the primary effects observed were induced by light and its effect on the de-epoxidation state of the xanthophyll cycle pigments (AZ/VAZ). Both short- and long-term adjustments of the AZ/VAZ correlated with changes in photochemical efficiency (ΦPSII). When the plants were artificially darkened during the night, it became evident that the midnight sun prevents the complete relaxation of the xanthophyll cycle. These results indicate that light is the primary driver of photochemical efficiency in Arctic plants, and consequently, photosynthesis is not completely interrupted at night.

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Acknowledgements

We want to thank the project funded by the Svalbard Environmental Protection fund (Nr. 16/65); Basque Government (UPV/EHU IT-1018-16); Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) and the ERDF (FEDER) (CTM2014-53902-C2-1-P and CTM2014-53902-C2-2-P) and Juan de la Cierva-Incorporation fellowship (IJCI-2014-22489 to B.F-M).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Box 644, 48080, Bilbao, Spain

    B. Fernández-Marín & J. I. García-Plazaola

  2. Grup de Recerca en Biologia de Les Plantes en Condicions Mediterrànies, Departament de Biologia, University of the Balearic Islands (UIB) - Instituto de Investigaciones Agroambientales Y de La Economía del Agua (INAGEA), ctra. Valldemossa km. 7.5, 07122, Palma, Spain

    J. Gago, M. J. Clemente-Moreno, J. Flexas & J. Gulías

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  1. B. Fernández-Marín
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  2. J. Gago
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  3. M. J. Clemente-Moreno
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  4. J. Flexas
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  5. J. Gulías
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Correspondence to J. I. García-Plazaola.

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300_2019_2463_MOESM1_ESM.tiff

Supplementary file1 (TIFF 9493 kb) Online Resource 1. The high Arctic tundra species studied: Ph: Polytrichum hyperboreum, Sp: Salix polaris, Bv: Bistorta vivipara.

300_2019_2463_MOESM2_ESM.pdf

Supplementary file2 (PDF 65 kb) Online Resource 2. Statistically significant (paired t-test) trends maintained between noon and midnight for the parameters analysed in the three species studied. Each individual/daily cycle (16) is considered to be a replicate.

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Fernández-Marín, B., Gago, J., Clemente-Moreno, M.J. et al. Plant pigment cycles in the high-Arctic Spitsbergen. Polar Biol 42, 675–684 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-019-02463-x

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