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Epidermal UV-screening of arctic and alpine plants along a latitudinal gradient in Europe

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Abstract

This study reports epidermal UV-transmittance in field-grown leaves of ecotypes of six species at three sites along a latitudinal UV-B gradient from Arctic Svalbard, via southern Norway to the French Alps for the years 1999–2001. Unexpectedly, Arctic populations had just as high epidermal UV-screening as alpine populations from lower latitudes. Dryas octopetala was the only species that significantly increased epidermal screening with increasing natural UV-B. Most species, however, showed clear differences in transmittance between years.

Under controlled conditions in a growthroom, no ecotypic differences with respect to epidermal UV-B screening were found in Arctic and alpine ecotypes of Oxyria digyna, either in the absence or presence of UV-B radiation. Furthermore, UV-B transmittance in the absence of UV-B radiation in the growthroom was as low (5–6%) as in field-grown plants, indicating a high constitutive screening. Analysis of UV-B-absorbing phenolic compounds in O. digyna displayed no difference between the French Alps and Svalbard ecotypes, while the S. Norway ecotype contained significantly higher amounts of screening compounds. The qualitative analysis showed that the French Alps ecotype had a different composition of flavonoids compared with the two others, and that the ratio between di- and monohydroxylated flavonoids increased from south to north.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Rolland Douzet, Richard Bligny and Philippe Choler at the Station Alpine du Lautaret for all their help and support during field work in the French Alps. We also thank Nina Eide, Mette Oht, Wenche Eide and Kari Klanderud for their help with seed collection at Svalbard and Finse. Lars Olof Björn kindly helped us with the transformation of UV-B data to biologically effective values, while Gilbert Neuner provided data on SLA of O. digyna. We are grateful to Bjørn Johnsen, Statens Strålevern, Oslo, for the calibration of the Scintec UV-B sensors. This work was supported financially by the Norwegian Research Council, Division for Environment and Development, as part of the programme Arctic Light and Heat.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology and Natural Resource Management, Agricultural University of Norway, Box 5003, 1432 , Ås, Norway

    Line Nybakken & Wolfgang Bilger

  2. Station Alpine du Lautaret & Laboratoire d’Ecologie Alpine, Université J. Fourier, BP 53, 38041, Grenoble Cedex 9, France

    Serge Aubert

  3. Botanisches Institut, Christian-Albrechts Universität zu Kiel, Olshausenstr. 40, 24098 , Kiel, Germany

    Wolfgang Bilger

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  1. Line Nybakken
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  2. Serge Aubert
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Correspondence to Line Nybakken.

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Nybakken, L., Aubert, S. & Bilger, W. Epidermal UV-screening of arctic and alpine plants along a latitudinal gradient in Europe. Polar Biol 27, 391–398 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-004-0601-9

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