© 2006 Heron Publishing—Victoria, Canada
Tradeoff between shade adaptation and mitigation of photoinhibition in leaves of Quercus mongolica and Acer mono acclimated to deep shade
Mitsutoshi Kitao (1, 2), Thomas T. Lei (1, 3), Takayoshi Koike (1, 4), Hiroyuki Tobita (1) and Yutaka Maruyama (1)
1. Hokkaido Research Center, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute (FFPRI), Sapporo 062-8516, Japan / 2. Corresponding author (kitao@ffpri.affrc.go.jp) / 3. Department of Environmental Solution Technology, Ryukoku University, Shiga 520-2194, Japan / 4. Hokkaido University Forests, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0809, Japan / Received February 10, 2005; accepted May 28, 2005; published online January 15, 2006
Summary
We investigated susceptibility to photoinhibition in leaves acclimated to different light regimes in intermediately shade-tolerant
Japanese oak (Quercus mongolica Fisch. ex Turcz. var. crispula (Blume) Ohashi) and shade-tolerant Japanese maple (Acer mono Maxim. var. glabrum (Lév. et Van’t.) Hara), to elucidate adaptability to gap formation in leaves differing in shade acclimation. We hypothesized
that there is a tradeoff between shade adaptation and capacity to mitigate photoinhibition associated with leaf morphology.
We simultaneously measured chlorophyll fluorescence and gas exchange in seedlings that had been grown in full sunlight (open),
10% of full sun (moderate shade) and 5% of full sun (deep shade). Shade-tolerant A. mono adapted to deep shade through changes in leaf morphology, lowering its leaf mass per area (LMA), but Q. mongolica showed little change in LMA between moderate and deep shade. Photochemical quenching (qP) did not differ between species in full sunlight and moderate shade; however, in deep shade, qP of Q. mongolica was higher than that of A. mono, suggesting that Q. mongolica grown in deep shade is less susceptible to photoinhibition at gap formation. This is consistent with the finding that chronic
photoinhibition 3 days after the transfer to full sunlight, indicated by the decrease in maximum photochemical efficiency,
Fv/Fm, at predawn, was less in deep-shade-grown Q. mongolica than in deep shade-grown A. mono. In deep shade, the electron transport rate (ETR) of Q. mongolica was higher than that of A. mono, whereas thermal energy dissipation through photosystem II antennae, indicated by non-photochemical quenching, was lower
in Q. mongolica than in A. mono. In deep shade, the greater ETR capacity in Q. mongolica in association with higher LMA and higher leaf N content could contribute to maintaining high qP and mitigating photoinhibition. These results indicate that, by maintaining a high electron transport capacity even in deep
shade, the gap-dependent and intermediate-shade-tolerant Q. mongolica trades improved shade adaptation for higher growth potential when a gap event occurs.
Keywords:
acclimation, electron transport, fraction of open PSII reaction centers, thermal dissipation.
