Título
Growth and ecophysiology of succulent seedlings under the protection of nurse plants in the Southern Chihuahuan Desert
Autor
REYES MANUEL PEREZ SANCHEZ
JOEL DAVID FLORES RIVAS
Enrique Jurado
CLAUDIA GONZALEZ SALVATIERRA
Nivel de Acceso
Acceso Abierto
Identificador alterno
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00408.1
Materias
Resumen o descripción
"In arid zones, light and water are two important factors that limit seedling development. The shade provided by nurse plants can reduce overheating, excessive transpiration, and photoinhibition in protege seedlings. The difference that a nurse plant microenvironment may provide on the physiological performance of succulent desert seedlings could be tested by measuring plant growth and photosynthesis. Specifically, in this study we measured the variables related to chlorophyll fluorescence: Quantum yield of photosystem II photochemistry (UPSII) and electron transport rate (ETR), as well as relative growth rate (RGR) and its components (net assimilation rate, NAR, and leaf area rate, LAR), root to shoot (R/S) ratio, and relative water content (RWC) for seedlings transplanted under nurse plants and seedlings transplanted under direct sunlight. We tested whether UPSII, ETR, LAR, R/S ratio, and RWC, were lower, and RGR and NAR were higher for seedlings of seven succulent species common to the Southern Chihuahuan Desert (Agave lechuguilla, A. salmiana, Echinocactus platyacanthus, Ferocactus histrix, Myrtillocactus geometrizans, Stenocactus coptonogonus and Yucca filifera) grown under direct sunlight than for those grown under nurse Mesquite trees. Although species responded differently to treatments, in general we found that seedlings grown under nurse plants had higher UPSII and lower ETR than those grown under direct sunlight. RWC, R/S ratio, and RGR and its components varied in response to microenvironments for some species but not consistently. The ecophysiology variables tested here were more clearly affected by solar radiation than the morphology variables. These results are the first field study including the ecophysiological and morphological mechanisms of seedlings of succulent species under nurse plants."
Editor
Ecological Society of America
Fecha de publicación
marzo de 2015
Tipo de publicación
Artículo
Versión de la publicación
Versión publicada
Recurso de información
Formato
application/pdf
Idioma
Inglés
Sugerencia de citación
Pérez-Sánchez, R. M., J. Flores, E. Jurado, and C. González-Salvatierra. 2015. Growth and ecophysiology of succulent seedlings under the protection of nurse plants in the Southern Chihuahuan Desert. Ecosphere 6(3):36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1890/ES14-00408.1
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Repositorio IPICYT
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