Seasonal variation in the nitrogen nutrition and carbon assimilation in wild and cultivated Aspalathus linearis (rooibos tea)
Daleen Lötter A B , Emma Archer van Garderen A D , Mark Tadross B E and Alexander J. Valentine C F
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A CSIR, Natural Resources and the Environment, PO Box 320, Stellenbosch 7602, South Africa.
B Climate Systems Analysis Group, Department of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Private Bag, Rondebosch 7701, Republic of South Africa.
C Botany and Zoology Department, University of Stellenbosch, Private Bag X1, Matieland 7602, South Africa.
D CSIR Natural Resources & the Environment, Bldg 1, cnr Carlow & Rustenburg Roads, Emmarentia 2193/School of Geography, Archaeology and Environmental Studies, University of the Witwatersrand, 1 Jan Smuts Avenue, Braamfontein 2000, South Africa.
E Present address: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP–GEF), Energy and Environment Group, BDP 304 East 45th Street, 9th Floor, New York, NY 10017, USA.
F Corresponding author. Email: alexvalentine@mac.com
Australian Journal of Botany 62(1) 65-73 https://doi.org/10.1071/BT13237
Submitted: 28 September 2013 Accepted: 13 March 2014 Published: 28 April 2014
Abstract
The Fynbos Biome of southern Africa is a Mediterranean-climate ecosystem with highly infertile soil. It is home to the endemic leguminous shrub Aspalathus linearis (rooibos tea), which is both an invaluable wild resource and commercially cultivated plant. Wild rooibos has a narrow geographic range and is confined to mountain ranges of the Cederberg Region. Under projected climate change, warmer and more arid conditions may place additional pressure on these range-restricted plants to survive in an already resource-limited environment. To understand the adaptive strategies that may allow rooibos to persist in its habitat under future climate change, the present study evaluated changes in the photosynthetic activity and nutrient cycling of wild and cultivated A. linearis, at the temperature and rainfall extremes of summer and winter. Wild and cultivated rooibos tea had different methods of adapting to nitrogen (N) nutrition and carbon (C) assimilation during wet and dry seasons. In particular, the wild plants were better able to tolerate summer drought by increased water use efficiency and maintaining higher levels of biological N2 fixation than was the cultivated tea.
Additional keywords: Cape Fynbos, legume, mineral nutrition.
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