Do mature shade leaves of tropical tree seedlings acclimate to high sunlight and UV radiation?
G. Heinrich Krause A B E , Esther Grube B C , Olga Y. Koroleva B , Carina Barth B D and Klaus Winter AA Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 2072, Balboa, Ancon, Panama.
B Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Universitätsstr. 1, 40 225 Düsseldorf, Germany.
C Current address: Botanical Institute, University of Köln, Gyrhofstr. 15, 50 931 Köln, Germany.
D Current address: Boyce Thompson Institute for Plant Research at Cornell University, Tower Road, Ithaca, NY, 14 853, USA.
E Corresponding author; email: ghkrause@uni-duesseldorf.de
Functional Plant Biology 31(7) 743-756 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP03239
Submitted: 8 December 2003 Accepted: 19 April 2004 Published: 22 July 2004
Abstract
Seedlings of neotropical forest trees grown in low light were exposed to 0.5–9 h d–1 direct sunlight, for up to 3 months, to test the capability of mature shade leaves to acclimate to full solar visible and UV radiation. Photosynthetic pigments and the antioxidant, ascorbate, were analysed in leaves of two pioneer and two late-succession species. Seedlings of one or two of these species were used to assess further acclimative responses. Sun-exposure for 0.5 or 1 h d–1 resulted in strongly decreased α-carotene and increased β-carotene and lutein levels. The pool size of xanthophyll-cycle pigments (sum of viola-, anthera- and zeaxanthin) was increased and their turnover was enhanced. These changes were associated with an increase in the capacity of non-photochemical fluorescence quenching and its ‘energy-dependent’ component, qE, and with reduced susceptibility to photoinhibition of PSII. Prolonged exposure to full direct sunlight (approximately 4 or 9 h d–1) resulted in a marked decrease of chlorophyll a + b content and increase in chlorophyll a / b ratios and the pool of xanthophyll-cycle pigments (based on chlorophyll), leading to extremely high zeaxanthin levels during high-light periods. Contents of ascorbate and UV-B-absorbing substances were substantially increased. PSI activity exhibited a response to full sunlight that is characteristic of sun leaves. Rates of net photosynthetic CO2 assimilation under saturating light were increased. The data show that mature shade leaves of seedlings of both early- and late-succession tree species can substantially acclimate to full-sunlight conditions by employing similar physiological mechanisms.
Keywords: Anacardium excelsum, ascorbate, Calophyllum longifolium, chlorophyll a / b, Ficus insipida, photosynthetic pigments, Virola surinamensis.
Acknowledgments
We thank Barbara Krause, Ingrid Prikulis and Aurelio Virgo for competent assistance and Elisabeth King for reading the manuscript. The study was supported by the Andrew W. Mellon foundation, the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
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