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Community-wide consequences of variation in photoprotective physiology among prairie plants

Photosynthetica volume 56, pages 455–467 (2018)Cite this article

Abstract

Photoprotective pigments, like those involved in the xanthophyll cycle, help plants avoid oxidative damage caused by excess radiation. This study aims to characterize a spectrum of strategies used to cope with light stress by a diverse group of prairie plants at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve (East Bethel, MN). We find that concentrations of photosynthetic and photoprotective pigments are highly correlated with one another and with other physiological traits across species and over time, and tend to be phylogenetically conserved. During a period of water limitation, plots dominated by species with constitutively low pigment concentrations showed a greater decline in mean reflectance and photochemical reflectance index, a reflectance-based indicator of photoprotective physiology, possibly due to alterations in canopy structure. Our findings suggest two contrasting strategies for withstanding light stress: (1) Using photoprotective pigments to dissipate excess energy, and (2) altering canopy structure to minimize absorbance of excess radiation.

Abbreviations

Chl:

total chlorophyll (a + b) concentration

CWM:

community-weighted mean

DPS:

xanthophyll de-epoxidation state

ETR:

electron transport rate

fAPAR:

fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation

Fv/Fm :

maximal quantum yield of PSII photochemistry

LUE:

light-use efficiency

ML:

maximum likelihood

NDVI:

normalized difference vegetation index

NIR:

near-infrared light

NPQ:

nonphotochemical quenching

PC:

principal component

PCA:

principal component analysis

PRI:

photochemical reflectance index

V+A+Z:

xanthophyll pool size

VIS:

visible light

WUEi :

intrinsic water-use efficiency

ρn :

reflectance at wavelength n

ΦPSII :

effective quantum yield of PSII photochemistry

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Plant Biological Sciences Program, University of Minnesota, 250 Biological Sciences Center, 1445 Gortner Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    S. Kothari & J. Cavender-Bares

  2. Department of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, 100 Ecology, 1987 Upper Buford Circle, Saint Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    J. Cavender-Bares & K. Bitan

  3. Department of Biology, University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Avenue, Saint Paul, MN, 55105, USA

    A. S. Verhoeven

  4. Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

    R. Wang & J. A. Gamon

  5. Department of Forest Resources, University of Minnesota, 115 Green Hall, 1530 Cleveland Ave. N., St. Paul, MN, 55108, USA

    R. A. Montgomery

  6. Center for Advanced Land Management Information Technologies, School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska–Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68583, USA

    J. A. Gamon

  7. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB, T6G 2E9, Canada

    J. A. Gamon

Authors
  1. S. Kothari
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  2. J. Cavender-Bares
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  3. K. Bitan
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  4. A. S. Verhoeven
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  5. R. Wang
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  6. R. A. Montgomery
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  7. J. A. Gamon
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to S. Kothari or J. Cavender-Bares.

Additional information

Acknowledgements: We would like to thank staff at Cedar Creek Ecosystem Science Reserve, including Kally Worm and Troy Mielke. Funding to support this study was provided by a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Aeronautics and Space Administraton (NASA) through the Dimensions of Biodiversity program (DEB-1342872) to J. Cavender-Bares, R. Montgomery, and J. Gamon. Additional support was provided by an NSF Long-Term Ecological Research grant to Cedar Creek (DEB-1234162) and an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship to S. Kothari under Grant No. 00039202. Jon Anderson determined percent cover of species in the field, Austin Pieper assisted with HPLC and pigment extraction, and Anna K. Schweiger and Cathleen Nguyen aided in interpreting the pigment concentrations from HPLC. All members of the Cavender-Bares Lab and Cristy Portales provided useful feedback on the research and manuscript.

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Kothari, S., Cavender-Bares, J., Bitan, K. et al. Community-wide consequences of variation in photoprotective physiology among prairie plants. Photosynthetica 56, 455–467 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11099-018-0777-9

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Additional key words

  • drought
  • light-use efficiency
  • phenology
  • photoinhibition
  • trait covariance
  • water-use efficiency