A high-throughput method for measuring critical thermal limits of leaves by chlorophyll imaging fluorescence
Pieter A. Arnold
A C , Verónica F. Briceño A , Kelli M. Gowland A , Alexandra A. Catling A , León A. Bravo B and Adrienne B. Nicotra A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Division of Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia.
B Department of Agronomical Sciences and Natural Resources, Faculty of Agropecuary and Forestry Sciences and Center of Plant, Soil Interaction and Natural Resources Biotechnology, Scientific and Technological Bioresource Nucleus, Universidad de La Frontera, Casilla 54D, Temuco, Chile.
C Corresponding author. Email: pieter.arnold@anu.edu.au
Functional Plant Biology 48(6) 634-646 https://doi.org/10.1071/FP20344
Submitted: 2 November 2020 Accepted: 12 February 2021 Published: 5 March 2021
Abstract
Plant thermal tolerance is a crucial research area as the climate warms and extreme weather events become more frequent. Leaves exposed to temperature extremes have inhibited photosynthesis and will accumulate damage to PSII if tolerance thresholds are exceeded. Temperature-dependent changes in basal chlorophyll fluorescence (T-F0) can be used to identify the critical temperature at which PSII is inhibited. We developed and tested a high-throughput method for measuring the critical temperatures for PSII at low (CTMIN) and high (CTMAX) temperatures using a Maxi-Imaging fluorimeter and a thermoelectric Peltier plate heating/cooling system. We examined how experimental conditions of wet vs dry surfaces for leaves and heating/cooling rate, affect CTMIN and CTMAX across four species. CTMAX estimates were not different whether measured on wet or dry surfaces, but leaves were apparently less cold tolerant when on wet surfaces. Heating/cooling rate had a strong effect on both CTMAX and CTMIN that was species-specific. We discuss potential mechanisms for these results and recommend settings for researchers to use when measuring T-F0. The approach that we demonstrated here allows the high-throughput measurement of a valuable ecophysiological parameter that estimates the critical temperature thresholds of leaf photosynthetic performance in response to thermal extremes.
Keywords: chlorophyll fluorescence, cold tolerance, ecophysiology, physiological ecology, temperature stress.
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