Acclimatization of Photosynthetic Apparatus of Tor Grass (Brachypodium pinnatum) during Expansion.
The aim of this study was to understand the acclimatization mechanisms of photosynthetic apparatus in Brachypodium pinnatum (L.) P. Beauv grass during its expansion. Twelve populations differentiated by age: young (30-50 years old), intermediate age (ca. 100 y) and old (>300 y) were studied. It was confirmed that the decrease of the number of genotypes as a result of environmental stress and competition were reflected in changes in chlorophyll fluorescence (ChlF) parameters. The old stands were dominated by a few genotypes which seem to be the best acclimatized to the self-shading/competition by lowering their photosynthetic performance during light-phase of photosynthesis. On the other hand, the 'high-speed' photosynthetic rate observed in the young populations can be seen as acclimatization to very adverse conditions. Our results clearly confirm that ChlF is a powerful method of inferring physiological mechanisms of the expansion of tor grass. The Principal Component and Redundancy Analyses, followed with k-means classification, allowed to find the differentiation of groups of distinct ChlF parameters and enabled us to relate them to changes in genotypic diversity of populations. We conclude that the plastic morphological and physiological response to changeable habitat light conditions with its optimum in half-shade refers to its forest-steppe origin.
Department of Plant Ecology, Institute of Botany, Jagiellonian University, Lubicz 46, 31-512, Kraków, Poland.
Wojciech
W
Bąba
Department of Plant Physiology, Warsaw University of Life Sciences SGGW, Nowoursynowska 159, 02-776, Warsaw, Poland.
Hazem M
HM
Kalaji
Department of Botany and Nature Protection, University of Silesia, Jagiellonska 28, 40-032, Katowice, Poland.
Agnieszka
A
Kompała-Bąba
Department of Biophysics and Radiobiology, Faculty of Biology, St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia, 8 Dr. Tzankov Blvd., 1164, Sofia, Bulgaria.
Vasilij
V
Goltsev
D000064:Acclimatization / Q000502:physiology*; D058431:Brachypodium / Q000502:physiology*; D065928:Forests; D065948:Grassland; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins / Q000502:physiology*
D045322:Photosynthetic Reaction Center Complex Proteins