Photochemical efficiency is an important component of ecophysiological variation of Cistus albidus between habitats in south-east Spain
Olga M. Grant A B C and Lynton D. Incoll AA School of Biology, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK.
B Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas, CSIC, Calle General Segura 1, 04001 Almería, España.
C Present address: Laboratório de Ecofisiologia Molecular, Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica, Apartado 127, 2781-901 Oeiras, Portugal. Corresponding author. Email: grant@itqb.unl.pt
Functional Plant Biology 32(2) 107-115 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP04172
Submitted: 20 September 2004 Accepted: 28 December 2004 Published: 24 February 2005
Abstract
The ecophysiology of Cistus albidus L. plants in a variety of habitats in south-east Spain was measured in situ over the course of a year, to determine whether physiological variation occurs between populations growing in sites exposed to differing temperature and precipitation. Not all the observed variation could be explained by differing contemporary meteorological conditions. In particular, plants at the driest site maintained much higher photochemical efficiency through the summer and autumn than plants at the other sites, and also showed higher stomatal conductance after the autumn rains. Principal component analysis identified photochemical efficiency as the greatest source of variation between populations. Such variation may represent the result of differing selection in populations that have been exposed to different prevailing conditions of mean temperature, precipitation or atmospheric humidity, for long periods of time.
Keywords: Mediterranean vegetation, photochemical efficiency, photoinhibition, selection, stomatal conductance, water potential.
Acknowledgments
We thank the director and staff at the Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas) in Almería for providing facilities and space, which enabled this investigation. OMG thanks the University of Leeds for the award of a postgraduate scholarship, and HG Jones for comments on an earlier version of this manuscript.
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