Photosynthetica 2021, 59(1):203-214 | DOI: 10.32615/ps.2021.013

Species-specific performance and trade-off between growth and survival in the early-successional light-demanding group

T.O. VIEIRA1, L.S. SANTIAGO2, 3, I.A. PESTANA1, E. ÁVILA-LOVERA3, J.L.A. SILVA1, A.P. VITÓRIA1
1 Universidade Estadual do Norte Fluminense Darcy Ribeiro, Laboratório de Ciências Ambientais, Av. Alberto Lamego, 2000, UENF-CBB, Parque Califórnia, 28013-602 Campos dos Goytacazes, RJ, Brazil
2 Department of Botany and Plant Sciences, University of California, 2150 Bachelor Hall, Riverside, CA 92521, USA
3 Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Apartado 0843-03092, Balboa, Panama

We investigated if high irradiance imposes stress conditions and differently affects the performance of species from the early-successional light-demanding group and if the costs associated with plasticity underlie the trade-off between growth and survival. Survival, growth, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and carbon stable isotopic ratio (δ13C) were measured in seedlings of four tree species in a restoration area in the Atlantic Forest under full-sun exposure and partial shading treatments. The maximal quantum yield of PSII indicated stress conditions mainly in the full-sun exposure treatment (values from 0.72 to 0.81). The δ13C ranged from -31.9 to -30.4‰, but did not differ between treatments for three species, suggesting that C assimilation in initial restoration conditions is stressful even in shade. The survival scaled negatively with growth and plasticity adjustments. We conclude that early-successional species do not form a homogenous species group because they differ in functional responses to stress, and phenotypic plasticity, with these variations showing a strong link with the trade-off between growth and survival. This information should be taken into account for species selection in restoration programs.

Additional key words: biodiversity hotspots; chlorophyll a fluorescence; functional traits; leaf traits; photochemical parameters.

Received: September 21, 2020; Revised: January 20, 2021; Accepted: February 10, 2021; Prepublished online: March 16, 2021; Published: March 18, 2021  Show citation

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VIEIRA, T.O., SANTIAGO, L.S., PESTANA, I.A., ÁVILA-LOVERA, E., SILVA, J.L.A., & VITÓRIA, A.P. (2021). Species-specific performance and trade-off between growth and survival in the early-successional light-demanding group. Photosynthetica, 59(1), 203-214. doi: 10.32615/ps.2021.013
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