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Norway spruce needle size and cross section shape variability induced by irradiance on a macro- and microscale and CO2 concentration

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Needle cross-section parameters differ according to needle orientation on a shoot corresponding to irradiance microgradient. Irradiance is a stronger morphogenic factor determining needle size and shape than CO2 concentration.

Abstract

We investigated the effects of irradiance on macroscale and microscale, elevated CO2 concentration [CO2], and their interaction on Norway spruce (Picea abies L. Karst.) needles. The irradiance macroscale was represented by sun and shade shoots from two vertical positions in a crown and the irradiance microscale corresponded to spatial orientation of individual needles on a shoot (upper, side, and lower needles relative to the shoot axis). Determination of needle cross section shape using generalized Procrustes analysis and principal component analysis provided a novel approach for evaluating needle morphometry. As expected, shade needles on the irradiance macrogradient were flatter and had less cross-sectional area and smaller volume than did sun needles. The irradiance microgradient was detected within both sun and shade shoots, being steeper in sun shoots than shade shoots. On the microscale, the irradiance gradient induced changes in needle size and cross section shape according to needles’ orientation on a shoot. Due to a more favourable light environment the traits of the upper needles within both sun and shade shoots resembled more the sun needle traits. The sun needle volume was significantly larger in the case of elevated [CO2] as compared to ambient [CO2]. Irradiance was a stronger morphogenic factor determining needle size and cross section shape compared to CO2 concentration. We demonstrated that generalized Procrustes analysis can be a very powerful tool in ecophysiological studies for evaluating small-scale, subtle leaf shape changes on an intraspecific level caused by environmental factors.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation [P501/10/0340], the Czech Academy of Sciences [RVO: 67985823], Charles University [SVV 260315], and the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic [NPUI LO1417 and LO1415]. We also acknowledge the BioImaging Facility, Institute of Physiology, supported by the Czech-BioImaging large RI project funded by the Czech Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports [LM2015062], for support in obtaining scientific data presented in this paper. Our thanks also go to our colleagues from the research consortium of project P501/10/0340. We would like to thank, too, Miroslav Barták for technical help with shoot silhouette area measurement. We deeply appreciate the insightful comments of the reviewers, which led to the improvement of our article. The manuscript was edited by Gale A. Kirking, English Editorial Services.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Experimental Plant Biology, Faculty of Science, Charles University, Viničná 5, 128 44, Prague 2, Czech Republic

    Zuzana Kubínová, Zuzana Lhotáková & Jana Albrechtová

  2. Institute of Physiology, The Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i., Vídeňská 1083, 142 20, Prague 4, Czech Republic

    Jiří Janáček & Lucie Kubínová

  3. Global Change Research Institute, The Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i., Bělidla 986/4a, 603 00, Brno, Czech Republic

    Miroslava Šprtová

  4. Institute of Botany, The Czech Academy of Sciences, v.v.i., Zámek 1, 252 43, Průhonice, Czech Republic

    Jana Albrechtová

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  1. Zuzana Kubínová
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Correspondence to Jana Albrechtová.

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Additional information

Communicated by G. Piovesan.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

468_2017_1626_MOESM1_ESM.pdf

Electronic Supplementary Material (Online Resource 1, Fig. 7) describes pairwise scatter plots of middle cross section centroid size, Procrustes distance, and scores of PC vectors. Electronic Supplementary Material (Online Resource 1, Fig. 8) describes pairwise scatter plots of middle cross section centroid size, Procrustes distance, area and score of PC 1 vector, and needle volume. (PDF 668 KB)

468_2017_1626_MOESM2_ESM.mpg

The first supplementary video (Online Resource 2) shows sun and shade Norway spruce shoots from different angles. Sun shoot is on the left and shade shoot on the right, as viewed from the shoot tip to the upper side of the shoot. (MPG 3654 KB)

468_2017_1626_MOESM3_ESM.mpg

The second supplementary video (Online Resource 3) shows sun and shade Norway spruce shoots from different angles. Sun shoot is on the top and shade shoot on the bottom, as viewed from the shoot tip to the side of the shoot. (MPG 3093 KB)

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Kubínová, Z., Janáček, J., Lhotáková, Z. et al. Norway spruce needle size and cross section shape variability induced by irradiance on a macro- and microscale and CO2 concentration. Trees 32, 231–244 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00468-017-1626-3

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