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Effects of moderate warming on growth and physiological performance of subtropical saplings in southern China

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Abstract

While studies on temperate species indicate positive correlations between growth and elevated temperature, some observations referring tropical species suggest the opposite, as tropical species operates with more thermally stable climates. In this study, we subjected co-occurring Schima superba Gardn. et Champ., and Ormosia pinnata (Lour.) Merr saplings to infrared heaters in open-top chambers tracking natural temperature variability and measured their growth and physiological responses during a hot summer. Our key findings are (i) Short term warming induced a slight reduction in growth (height and basal stem diameter) of S. superba and O. pinnata saplings, but significantly increased their specific leaf area. (ii) During the warmest period, warming posed a negative and species-specific effect on photosynthetic functioning of these two species, in a manner that stomatal conductance of S. superba, but not of O. pinnata, significantly decreased under warming. The negative impacts of warming on photosynthetic biochemistry were stronger for S. superba compared to O. pinnata. (iii) Warming caused significant reductions in leaf total non-structural carbohydrate concentrations of both species. Species-specific effects of warming were found for leaf carbon (C), nitrogen (N) concentrations and C:N ratios, whereas leaf phosphorus (P) concentrations and N:P ratios were not affected. Higher leaf C concentrations as well as C:N ratios were only detected in legume O. pinnata under warming conditions. Our results demonstrated that climate warming is expected to have adverse and species-specific effects on S. superba and O. pinnata during summer in subtropical China.

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Acknowledgements

This research was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (31800511, 41977287, 31670487 and 41991285), the Science and Technology Programs of Guangzhou City (201903010021), and the Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, Chinese Academy of Sciences (DE2018028).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Forestry and Landscape Architecture, Anhui Agricultural University, Hefei, 230036, China

    Yiyong Li & Yongsheng Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Vegetation Restoration and Management of Degraded Ecosystems, South China Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Yiyong Li, Yue Xu, Guoyi Zhou, Shizhong Liu, Yuelin Li & Juxiu Liu

  3. Center for Plant Ecology, Core Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Yiyong Li, Yue Xu, Guoyi Zhou, Shizhong Liu, Yuelin Li & Juxiu Liu

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  1. Yiyong Li
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  2. Yue Xu
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Li, Y., Xu, Y., Zhou, G. et al. Effects of moderate warming on growth and physiological performance of subtropical saplings in southern China. Acta Physiol Plant 42, 164 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11738-020-03154-5

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