Opposite changes in leaf dark respiration and soluble sugars with drought in two Mediterranean oaks
Jesús Rodríguez-Calcerrada A B , Oula Shahin A , María del Carmen del Rey A and Serge Rambal A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Centre of Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, CNRS 1919 Route de Mende, 34293, Montpellier Cedex 5, France.
B Corresponding author. Emails: jesus.rodriguez-calcerrada@cefe.cnrs.fr; jesusrc1@yahoo.es
Functional Plant Biology 38(12) 1004-1015 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP11135
Submitted: 1 June 2011 Accepted: 13 September 2011 Published: 14 November 2011
Abstract
The decline in net photosynthetic CO2 uptake (An) caused by drought could reduce the availability of soluble sugars and thus limit leaf dark respiration (Rd). We investigated the response of leaf gas exchange and nonstructural carbohydrates to drought by stopping watering to 2-year-old plants of Quercus ilex L. and Quercus pubescens Willd. grown in large pots. An declined with increasing water deficit more rapidly than Rd, and Rd declined slightly more steeply in Q. ilex than in Q. pubescens. Soluble sugars increased in drought-treated plants relative to control well watered plants, and the opposite pattern was found for starch. After rewatering, Rd returned to pre-drought rates within 2 days and An within 1 week. Soluble sugars tended to recover pre-drought values after rewatering but continued to be significantly higher in drought-treated than control plants of Q. pubescens, for which the increase in the concentration of soluble sugars had been higher. These results suggest that the relative production of soluble sugars is upregulated when An is limited, and that soluble sugars do not control respiratory rates in response to and recovery from water deficit. Rather, we suggest that the decline in Rd contributes to drought tolerance by reducing the consumption of soluble sugars, which play an important role as osmoprotectants during water deficit stress.
Additional keywords: carbon depletion, ecological strategy, temperature sensitivity, water stress.
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