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Responses of Pinus pinea seedlings to moderate drought and shade: is the provenance a differential factor?

  • Published:
Photosynthetica

Abstract

The widespread Mediterranean Pinus pinea showed exceptionally low genetic diversity and low differentiation between traits in the adult phase. We explored the adaptation potential of seedlings from four main Iberian provenances during their regeneration phase. We assessed the variability of shoot growth, allometry, physiological traits, and phenotypic plasticity to the interactive effect of light and water environments during 8-month moderate water-stress cycle and after one-week heat wave. The effect of shade and drought was mainly orthogonal whatever the provenance. The inland La Mancha provenance showed higher shoot growth and biomass compared to the southern coastal Depresión-del-Guadalquivir provenance. Following the heat wave, La Mancha presented higher net photosynthetic rates, a lower decrease in maximal quantum efficiency of PSII, and a higher accumulated relative height growth, thus, showing an adaptive advantage. The observed differences corroborated the ecological grouping of the provenances along latitudinal and inland–coastal gradients. We confirmed the high adaptive plasticity of Pinus pinea to the unpredictable Mediterranean environment.

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Abbreviations

E :

transpiration rate

ETR:

apparent phtosynthetic electron transport rate

Fv/Fm :

maximum photochemical efficiency of PSII

g s :

stomatal conductance

H:

soil moisture

LA:

leaf area

LDM:

leaf dry mass

LMF:

leaf mass fraction

P N :

net assimilation rate

P gmax :

maximum rate of gross photosynthesis at saturating irradiance

R D :

dark respiration

RDM:

root dry mass

RHG:

accumulated relative height growth

RMF:

root mass fraction

SDM:

stem dry mass

ShDM:

shoot dry mass

ShMF:

shoot mass fraction

SLA:

specific leaf area

SMF:

stem mass fraction

S/R:

shoot to root ratio

TDM:

total dry mass

α:

quantum yield of assimilation

ΦPSII :

yield of photochemistry in PSII

ψpd :

predawn water potential

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Silviculture and Forest System Management, INIA-CIFOR, Crtra Coruña Km 7.5, 28040, Madrid, Spain

    M. Pardos & R. Calama

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  1. M. Pardos
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  2. R. Calama
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Correspondence to M. Pardos.

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Acknowledgements: This study was supported by the Spanish National Programme for Fundamental Research Projects (Projects no. AGL2010-15521 and RTA2013-00011-C02-01). We are especially grateful to M. Conde, G. Madrigal, and E. Garriga for technical support in the greenhouse.

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Pardos, M., Calama, R. Responses of Pinus pinea seedlings to moderate drought and shade: is the provenance a differential factor?. Photosynthetica 56, 786–798 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-017-0732-1

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