Abstract
Key message
The species did not show a response pattern to flooding. Andira anthelmia and Vernonanthura discolor invested in plastic responses, while Guarea guidonia established a balance between integration and phenotypic plasticity.
Abstract
Dense ombrophilous forests are tropical phytophysiognomies that make up the vegetation mosaic of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. These forests occur in humid regions and often contain flooded areas that impose obstacles to plant colonization. Some species such as Guarea guidonia (Meliaceae), Andira anthelmia (Fabaceae), and Vernonanthura discolor (Asteraceae) can tolerate these flooding conditions. However, little is known about the acclimatization of these species to flooding. For this reason, morphoanatomical and physiological analyses were performed on the leaves of five individuals of each species selected from a flooded and non-flooded site. The results showed that the species presented thicker leaves and higher specific leaf mass values under flooding conditions. However, it was observed that the thickening of G. guidonia and V. discolor is mainly influenced by the palisade parenchyma thickness, while in A. anthelmia thickening was more closely related to the spongy parenchyma thickness. Greater thickening of the cuticle and epidermis and greater density of stomata were also observed in the flooded site. The chlorophyll a and b and carotenoid contents were significantly lower in the flooded site. Chloroplasts exhibited higher amounts of starch grain, lipid drops, and plastoglobules in the flooded site. Regarding the quantum yield of photosystems II, only A. anthelmia showed a reduction in Fv/Fm values in the flooded site. Plasticity and phenotypic integration analyses made it possible to conclude that the acclimatization of A. anthelmia and V. discolor was mainly mediated by plastic adjustments. At the same time, G. guidonia presented greater phenotypic integration.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author (PhD. Maura Da Cunha, maurauenf@gmail.com—UENF University—Brazil).
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Acknowledgements
We thank John Ditty for linguistic advice and Herik Viana for the taxonomic classification of species. They also express gratitude to the LBCT/CBB Advanced Microscopy Multiuser Center for the infrastructure provided and to BF Ribeiro for technical work at LBCT/CBB/UENF. The license to carry out this study was granted to SISBIO nº 62752. This study is part of the doctoral research of N.L.B at Programa de Pós-Graduação em Biociências e Biotecnologia/UENF.
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This work was supported by the Fundação de Apoio à Pesquisa no Estado do Rio de Janeiro (FAPERJ), the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)—Financial Code 001, and the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq).
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Borges, N.L., Pireda, S., Oliveira, D.d. et al. The functional variability of the morphoanatomical and physiological traits of native species leaves in a flooded tropical forest. Trees 36, 1837–1851 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-022-02332-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-022-02332-x