Yongqing Yang, Yinan Yao, Xuejiang Zhang. (2010). Comparison of growth and physiological responses to severe drought between two altitudinal Hippophae rhamnoides populations. Silva Fennica vol. 44 no. 4 article id 130. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.130

Keywords: sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.); physiological response; abscisic acid (ABA); carbon isotope composition

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Growth and physiological differences in response to drought were compared between two sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides L.) populations inhabited in the southeast of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau of China. The experimental design included two water regimes (100% and 25% of field capacity) and two populations from the low and high altitude zone. Our experiments were conducted in a naturally lit greenhouse under semi-controlled environmental conditions for a whole growing season in a dry valley (1800 m above the sea level). We found that drought tolerance is highly related to the plant antioxidant capacity and water use efficiency as well as leaf nutrient status in H. rhamnoides. The highland population (HP) experienced a greater inhibition in plant growth and leaf enlargement, lower leaf nitrogen and phosphorus content, lower root nodule biomass and root mass/foliage area ratio, and higher leaf water content loss paralleling with higher enhancement of abscisic acid level in response to drought, as compared with lowland population (LP). Additionally, reduction of leaf lignin content in HP further reduced its drought tolerance. On the contrary, LP showed effective adaptation strategies such as improvement of water economy and maintaining high ascorbic acid content. Therefore, we conclude that LP was more tolerant to drought than HP, and could be selected for reforestation in the dry valleys of upper Minjiang River regions in China.

Yang, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China & College of Life Sciences, Chongqing Normal University, Chongqing, 400047, China E-mail: yy@nn.cn
Yao, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Urumqi, 830011, China E-mail: yaoya@ms.xjb.ac.cn
Zhang, Institute for Plant Protection and Soil sciences, Hubei Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430064, China E-mail: xz@nn.cn

article id 326, category Research article

Xuejiang Zhang, Helena Korpelainen, Chunyang Li. (2006). Microsatellite variation of Quercus aquifolioides populations at varying altitudes in the Wolong Natural Reserve of China. Silva Fennica vol. 40 no. 3 article id 326. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.326

Keywords: genetic differentiation; genetic variation; altitudinal gradients; microsatellites; Quercus aquifolioides

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Genetic variation and differentiation were investigated among five natural populations of Quercus aquifolioides occurring along an altitudinal gradient that varied from 2000 to 3600 m above sea level in the Wolong Natural Reserve of China, by analyzing variation at six microsatellite loci. The results showed that the populations were characterized by relatively high intra-population variation with the average number of alleles equaling 11.33 per locus and the average expected heterozygosity (H_E) being 0.779. The amount of genetic variation varied only little among populations, which suggests that the influence of altitude factors on microsatellite variation is limited. However, there is a significantly positive correlation between altitude and the number of low-frequency alleles (R² = 0.97, P < 0.01), which indicates that Q. aquifolioides from high altitudes has more unique variation, possibly enabling adaptation to severe conditions. F statistics showed the presence of a slight deficiency of heterozygosity (F_IS = 0.136) and a low level of differentiation among populations (F_ST = 0.066). The result of the cluster analysis demonstrated that the grouping of populations does not correspond to the altitude of the populations. Based on the available data, it is likely that the selective forces related to altitude are not strong enough to significantly differentiate the populations of Q. aquifolioides in terms of microsatellite variation.

Zhang, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 416, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China; Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, P. R. China E-mail: xz@nn.cn
Korpelainen, Department of Applied Biology, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: hk@nn.fi
Li, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 416, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China E-mail: licy@cib.ac.cn

article id 348, category Research article

Chunyang Li, Xuejiang Zhang, Xingliang Liu, Olavi Luukkanen, Frank Berninger. (2006). Leaf morphological and physiological responses of Quercus aquifolioides along an altitudinal gradient. Silva Fennica vol. 40 no. 1 article id 348. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.348

Keywords: carbon isotope composition; leaf nitrogen content; specific leaf area; stomata

Abstract | View details | Full text in PDF | Author Info

Quercus aquifolioides Rehder & E.H. Wilson, an evergreen alpine and subalpine shrub species, occupies a wide range of habitats on the eastern slopes of the Himalaya in China. In this study, we measured leaf morphology, nitrogen content and carbon isotope composition (as an indicator of water use efficiency) of Q. aquifolioides along an altitudinal gradient. We found that these leaf morphological and physiological responses to altitudinal gradients were non-linear with increasing altitude. Specific leaf area, stomatal length and index increased with increasing altitude below 2800 m, but decreased with increasing altitude above 2800 m. In contrast, leaf nitrogen content per unit area and carbon isotope composition showed opposite change patterns. Specific leaf area seemed to be the most important parameter that determined the carbon isotope composition along the altitudinal gradient. Our results suggest that near 2800 m in altitude could be the optimum zone for growth and development of Q. aquifolioides, and highlight the importance of the influence of altitude in research on plant physiological ecology.

Li, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 416, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China E-mail: licy@cib.ac.cn
Zhang, Chengdu Institute of Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 416, Chengdu 610041, P. R. China; Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100039, P.R. China E-mail: xz@nn.cn
Liu, Sichuan Academy of Forestry, Chengdu 610081, P. R. China E-mail: xl@nn.cn
Luukkanen, Viikki Tropical Resources Institute, P.O. Box 27, FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Finland E-mail: ol@nn.fi
Berninger, Département des sciences biologiques, Cp 8888 succ centre ville, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montréal (QC) H3C 3P8, Canada E-mail: fb@nn.ca

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