Journal Article

Variation, coordination, and trade-offs between needle structures and photosynthetic-related traits across five Picea species: consequences on plant growth

Zhang, Hanguo, Wang, Junhui, Kong, Lisheng, An, Sanping, Ouyang, Fangqun, Wang, Lifang, Wang, Junchen, Xu, Na, Ma, Jianwei

2022

Overview

Background Picea species are distributed and planted world-wide due to their great ecological and economic values. It has been reported that Picea species vary widely in growth traits in a given environment, which reflects genetic and phenotypic differences among species. However, key physiological processes underlying tree growth and the influencing factors on them are still unknown. Results Here, we examined needle structures, needle chemical components, physiological characteristics and growth traits across five Picea species in a common garden in Tianshui, Gansu province in China: Picea glauca , P. mariana , P. likiangensis , P. koraiensis , and P. crassifolia , among which P. glauca and P. mariana were introduced from North America, P. likiangensis was from Lijiang, Yunan province in China, P. koraiensis was from Yichun, Heilongjiang province in China, and P. crassifolia was native to the experimental site. It was found that nearly all traits varied significantly among species. Tissue-level anatomical characteristics and leaf mass per area (LMA) were affected by needle size, but the variations of them were not associated with the variations in photosynthetic and biochemical capacity among species. Variations in area-based maximum photosynthesis (P nmax ) were affected by stomatal conductance (g s ), mesophyll conductance (g m ) and biochemical parameters including maximum carboxylation rate (V cmax ), and maximum electron transport rate (J max ). The fraction of N allocated to different photosynthetic apparatus displayed contrasting values among species, which contributed to the species variations in photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency (PNUE) and P nmax . Additionally, all growth traits were positively correlated with P nmax and PNUE. Conclusion Needle structures are less important than needle biochemical parameters in determining the variations in photosynthetic capacity across the five Picea species. P nmax and PNUE are closedly associated with the fraction of N allocated to photosynthetic apparatus (P photo ) compared with leaf N content per area (N area ). The tremendous growth differences among the five Picea species were substantially related to the interspecies variation in P nmax and PNUE.

• Publisher: BioMed Central,BioMed Central Ltd,Springer Nature B.V,BMC
• Subject: Agriculture / Biochemical parameters / Biochemistry / Biomedical and Life Sciences / Carboxylation / China / Conductance / Diseases and pests / electron transfer / Electron transport / Genetic aspects / Germplasm / Growth / Leaves / Life Sciences / Mesophyll / Methods / Needle structures / Nitrogen / nitrogen content / Nitrogen in the body / North America / nutrient use efficiency / Parameters / phenotype / Photosynthesis / Photosynthesis - physiology / Photosynthetic apparatus / Photosynthetic capacity / Photosynthetic N allocation / Physiological effects / Physiology / Picea / Picea crassifolia / Picea glauca / Picea koraiensis / Picea likiangensis / Picea mariana / Pine needles / Plant growth / Plant Leaves - physiology / Plant Sciences / PNUE / Species / specific leaf weight / Spruce / Stomata / Stomatal conductance / Transport rate / Tree Biology / Tree growth / Trees