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Carbon Gain Limitation Is the Primary Mechanism for the Elevational Distribution Limit of Myriophyllum in the High-Altitude Plateau

Temperature comprises a major driver for species distribution and physiological processes in alpine plants. For all terrestrial plant species tested to date, elevation associated decreases in temperature have been observed to influence the balance between carbon acquisition and usage; restricting th...

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Autores principales: Xie, Dong, Wu, Zhigang, Chen, Han Y. H., Wang, Zhong, Wang, Qiang, Yu, Dan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6083828/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30116255
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01129
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author Xie, Dong
Wu, Zhigang
Chen, Han Y. H.
Wang, Zhong
Wang, Qiang
Yu, Dan
author_facet Xie, Dong
Wu, Zhigang
Chen, Han Y. H.
Wang, Zhong
Wang, Qiang
Yu, Dan
author_sort Xie, Dong
collection PubMed
description Temperature comprises a major driver for species distribution and physiological processes in alpine plants. For all terrestrial plant species tested to date, elevation associated decreases in temperature have been observed to influence the balance between carbon acquisition and usage; restricting the upper limit of most alpine trees (i.e., treeline). However, such a carbon source-sink balance has not been tested in any alpine aquatic plants, which is an important component of the alpine aquatic ecosystem. The Myriophyllum species inhabits a broad range of habitats across the high-altitude plateau. Three Myriophyllum species (Myriophyllum spicatum, Myriophyllum verticillatum, and Myriophyllum sibiricum) from 12 water bodies at elevational gradients between 2766 and 5111 m were collected in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The late growing seasonal concentrations of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in the leaves were measured to find how high-altitude conditions influence the carbon balance in aquatic plants. Regression tree analysis separated the 12 water bodies into two groups according to water turbidity (seven water bodies with high turbidity and five water bodies with low turbidity). Overall, leaf NSC concentrations (primarily starch) decreased significantly with increasing elevation in widely distributed M. spicatum and M. verticillatum. Regression tree analysis indicated that water turbidity (i.e., shady environment) was a strong determinant of leaf NSC. In the low turbidity group (<3.5 NTU), leaf NSC concentrations decreased with increasing elevation; however, in the high turbidity group (>3.5 NTU), leaf NSC concentrations were low and had no association with elevation. Unlike most recent studies in tree species, which show low temperatures limited growth at high-elevations, our results demonstrated that carbon gain limitation is the primary mechanism for the elevational distribution limit of Myriophyllum species in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Moreover, water turbidity moderated the effects of low temperature by masking the expected carbon limitation trend. Therefore, at least two environmental factors (i.e., temperature and light availability) induced photosynthesis decreases might explain the NSC responses for aquatic plants in response to elevation.
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spelling pubmed-60838282018-08-16 Carbon Gain Limitation Is the Primary Mechanism for the Elevational Distribution Limit of Myriophyllum in the High-Altitude Plateau Xie, Dong Wu, Zhigang Chen, Han Y. H. Wang, Zhong Wang, Qiang Yu, Dan Front Plant Sci Plant Science Temperature comprises a major driver for species distribution and physiological processes in alpine plants. For all terrestrial plant species tested to date, elevation associated decreases in temperature have been observed to influence the balance between carbon acquisition and usage; restricting the upper limit of most alpine trees (i.e., treeline). However, such a carbon source-sink balance has not been tested in any alpine aquatic plants, which is an important component of the alpine aquatic ecosystem. The Myriophyllum species inhabits a broad range of habitats across the high-altitude plateau. Three Myriophyllum species (Myriophyllum spicatum, Myriophyllum verticillatum, and Myriophyllum sibiricum) from 12 water bodies at elevational gradients between 2766 and 5111 m were collected in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. The late growing seasonal concentrations of non-structural carbohydrates (NSC) in the leaves were measured to find how high-altitude conditions influence the carbon balance in aquatic plants. Regression tree analysis separated the 12 water bodies into two groups according to water turbidity (seven water bodies with high turbidity and five water bodies with low turbidity). Overall, leaf NSC concentrations (primarily starch) decreased significantly with increasing elevation in widely distributed M. spicatum and M. verticillatum. Regression tree analysis indicated that water turbidity (i.e., shady environment) was a strong determinant of leaf NSC. In the low turbidity group (<3.5 NTU), leaf NSC concentrations decreased with increasing elevation; however, in the high turbidity group (>3.5 NTU), leaf NSC concentrations were low and had no association with elevation. Unlike most recent studies in tree species, which show low temperatures limited growth at high-elevations, our results demonstrated that carbon gain limitation is the primary mechanism for the elevational distribution limit of Myriophyllum species in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau. Moreover, water turbidity moderated the effects of low temperature by masking the expected carbon limitation trend. Therefore, at least two environmental factors (i.e., temperature and light availability) induced photosynthesis decreases might explain the NSC responses for aquatic plants in response to elevation. Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-08-02 /pmc/articles/PMC6083828/ /pubmed/30116255 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01129 Text en Copyright © 2018 Xie, Wu, Chen, Wang, Wang and Yu. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
spellingShingle Plant Science
Xie, Dong
Wu, Zhigang
Chen, Han Y. H.
Wang, Zhong
Wang, Qiang
Yu, Dan
Carbon Gain Limitation Is the Primary Mechanism for the Elevational Distribution Limit of Myriophyllum in the High-Altitude Plateau
title Carbon Gain Limitation Is the Primary Mechanism for the Elevational Distribution Limit of Myriophyllum in the High-Altitude Plateau
title_full Carbon Gain Limitation Is the Primary Mechanism for the Elevational Distribution Limit of Myriophyllum in the High-Altitude Plateau
title_fullStr Carbon Gain Limitation Is the Primary Mechanism for the Elevational Distribution Limit of Myriophyllum in the High-Altitude Plateau
title_full_unstemmed Carbon Gain Limitation Is the Primary Mechanism for the Elevational Distribution Limit of Myriophyllum in the High-Altitude Plateau
title_short Carbon Gain Limitation Is the Primary Mechanism for the Elevational Distribution Limit of Myriophyllum in the High-Altitude Plateau
title_sort carbon gain limitation is the primary mechanism for the elevational distribution limit of myriophyllum in the high-altitude plateau
topic Plant Science
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6083828/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30116255
http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2018.01129
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