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Functional Plant Biology Functional Plant Biology Society
Plant function and evolutionary biology
RESEARCH ARTICLE

How the vertical gradient of light in the understorey and water seasonality affect leaf traits of Vanilla phaeantha (Orchidaceae), a crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) hemiephyte

Aldineia Buss A , Wesley Costa Silva A , Vladimir Eliodoro Costa https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3889-7514 B and Ana Silvia Franco Pinheiro Moreira https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5090-5527 A *
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Instituto de Biologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Uberlândia, Minas Gerais, Brazil.

B Centro de Isótopos Estáveis, Instituto de Biociências, Universidade Estadual Paulista, Botucatu, Brazil.

* Correspondence to: anasilviamoreira@ufu.br

Handling Editor: Wieland Fricke

Functional Plant Biology 51, FP24132 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP24132
Submitted: 4 May 2024  Accepted: 1 October 2024  Published: 17 October 2024

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing

Abstract

Structural and physiological leaf traits and their plasticity were compared in the hemiepiphyte Vanilla phaeantha. This species grows along a phorophyte reaching different understorey positions and exhibiting diverse responses to environment changes. We analysed three height strata above the ground, establishing a light gradient, and considering seasonal water fluctuations. The upper leaves had higher area and mass and were less pigmented. The dry season induced a reduction of approximately 2 h of stomatal opening over the diel 24 h crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) cycle in the leaves at all understorey positions. The leaves more exposed to sunlight were larger with higher titratable acidity during the rainy season, while the leaves near the ground maintained the same rates of stomatal conductance and nocturnal acidification between seasons, with lowest values of carbon isotopes in the rainy season. Our research showed that some structural leaf traits (such as specific leaf mass, biomass, and saturated water content) are sensitive to variation in understorey position. In contrast, other physiological traits (stomatal conductance, transpiration, and fluorescence parameters) are more sensitive to seasonal variations. The results are a novelty in assessing the variation of CAM along the same plant in a height gradient and under field conditions.

Keywords: CAM plants, epiphytes, leaf development, leaf plasticity, orchids, photosynthesis, understorey heterogeneity, water relations.

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