Abstract
Disturbance or rainforest is often followed by mass mortality of understorey seedlings. Transitions of shade grown plants to full sunlight can cause reductions in the efficiency with which light is used in photosynthesis, called photoinhibition. In order to assess the influence of photoinhibition on mortality and growth after rainforest disturbance this study examined photoinhibition in both simulated and real forest disturbances in northern Papua New Guinea. In an experiment simulating rainforest disturbance, exposure of shade-grown plants to full sunlight resulted in abrupt decreases in the chlorophyll fluorescence parameter F v/F m that is characteristic of photoinhibition. However, in the well-watered plants used in these experiments there were no fatalities during 3 weeks after exposure to full sunlight. Thus, it is unlikely that photoinhibition, alone, is responsible for seedling fatalities after rainforest disturbances, but more likely that fatalities are due to photoinhibition in conjunction with other environmental stress. There were differences between the response of species to the simulated disturbance that concurred with their preferred habitats. For example, species form the genus Barringtonia, which is commonly found in shaded understorey environments, underwent greater reductions in F v/F m and were slower to recover than species that usually inhabit high solar radiation environments. The extent of photoinhibition and the rate of recovery appeared to be dependent on avoidance of direct solar radiation by altering leaf angles and on increasing maximum photosynthetic rates. A field survey of photoinhibition in man-made rainforest gaps corroborated the findings of the simulated disturbance experiment showing that plant species commonly found in shaded environments showed a greater degree of photoinhibition in forest gaps at midday than those species which are classified as species that benefit from gaps or specialist gap inhabitors.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Bazzaz FA (1984) Dynamics of wet tropical forests and their species strategies: In: Medina E, Mooney HA, Vazquez-Yanes C (eds) Physiological ecology of plants in the wet tropics. Junk, The Hague, pp 233–243
Björkman O, Powles SB (1984) Inhibition of photosynthetic reactions under water stress: interaction with light level. Planta 161:490–504
Bongers F, Popma J, Iriarte-Vivar S (1988) Response to Cordia megalantha Blake seedlings to gap environments in tropical rain forest. Funct Ecol 2:379–390
Brown ND, Whitmore TC (1992) Do dipterocarp seedlings really partition tropical rain forest gaps. Philos Trans R Soc London B 335:369–378
Chiariello NR, Field CB, Mooney HA (1987) Midday wilting in a tropical pioneer tree Funct Ecol 1:3–11
Chow WS (1992) Photoprotection and photoinhibitory damage. In: Barber J (ed) Molecular processes of photosynthesis (Advances in molecular and cell biology, Volume 9). JAI Press, Greenwich, Connecticut
Demmig B, Winter K, Krüger A, Czygan F-C (1987) Photoinhibition and zeaxanthin formation in intact leaves. A possible role of the xanthosphyll cycle in the dissipation of excess light energy. Plant Physiol 84: 218–224
Demmig-Adams B, Adams WW (1992) Carotenoid composition in sun and shade leaves of plants with different life forms. Plant Cell Environ 15:411–420
Ehleringer JR, Cooper TA (1992) On the role of orientation in reducing photoinhibitory damage in photosynthetic-twig desert shrubs Plant Cell Environ 15:301–306
Greer DH, Laing WA (1989) Photoinhibition of photosynthesis in intact kiwifruit (Actinidia deliciosa) leaves: effect of growth temperature on photoinhibition and recovery. Planta 180:32–39
Kennedy DN, Swaine MD (1992) Germination and growth of colonising species in artificial gaps of different sizes in dipterocamp rain forest. Philos Trans R Soc London B 335:357–366
Krause GH Weis E (1991) Chlorophyll fluorescence and photosynthesis: The basics. Annu Rev Plant Physiol Plant Mol Biol 42:313–349
Langenheim JH, Osmond CB, Brooks A, Ferrar PJ (1984) Photosynthetic responses to light in seedlings selected Amazonian and Australian rainforest tree species. Oecologia 63:215–224
Le Gouallec J-L, Cornic G, Briantais J-M (1991) Chlorophyll fluorescence and photoinhibition in a tropical rainforest understorey plant. Photosynthe Res 27:135–142
Lovelock CE, Clough BF (1992) Influence of solar radiation and leaf angle on leaf xanthophyll concentrations in mangroves. Oecologia 91: 518–525
Ludlow MM, Björkman O (1984) Paraheliotropic leaf movement in Siratro as a protective mechanism against drought-induced damage to primary photosynthetic reactions: damage by excessive light and heat. Planta 161:505–518
Oberbauer SF, Strain BR (1984) Photosynthesis and successional status of Costa Rican rain forest trees. Photosynth Res 5:227–232
Oberbauer SF, Strain BR (1985) Effects of light regime on the growth and physiology of Pentaclethra macroloba (Mimosaceae) in Costa Rica. J Trop Ecol 1:303–320
Öquist G, Chow WS, Anderson JM (1992) Photoinhibition of photosynthesis represents a mechanism for the long term regulation of photosystem II. Planta 186: 450–460
Osunkoya OO, Ash JE (1991) Acclimation to a change in light regime in seedlings of six Australian rainforest tree species. Aust J Bot 39:591–605
Popma J, Bongers F (1988) The effect of canopy gaps on growth and morphology of seedlings of rain forest species. Oecologia 75:625–632
Popma J, Bongers F (1991) Acclimation of seedlings of three Mexican tropical rainforest tree species to a change in light availability. J Trop Ecol 7:85–97
Sims DA, Pearcy RW (1991) Photosynthesis and respiration in Alocasia macrorrhiza following transfers to high and low light. Oecologia 86:447–453
Sims DA, Pearcy RW (1992) Response of leaf anatomy and photosynthetic capacity in Alocasia macrorrhiza (Araceae) to a transfer from low to high light. Am J Bot 79:449–455
Straus-Debenedetti S, Bazzaz FA (1991) Plasticity and acclimation to light in tropical Moraceae of different successional positions. Oecologia 87:377–387
Thayer SS, Björkman O (1990) Leaf xanthophyll content and composition in sun and shade determined by HPLC. Photosynth Res 23:331–343
Thompson WA, Kriedemann PE, Craig IE (1992a) Growth and photosynthetic response to light and nutrients in sun-tolerant and shade-tolerant rainforest trees. I. Growth, leaf anatomy and nutrient content. Aus J Plant Physiol 19:1–18
Thompson WA, Huang L-K, Kriedemann PE (1992b) Photosynthetic response to light and nutrients in sun-tolerant and shade-tolerant rainforest trees. II. Leaf gas exchange and component processes of photosynthesis. Aust J Plant Physiol 19:19–42
Whitmore TC (1984) Tropical rain forests of the Far East. Clarendon, Oxford
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lovelock, C.E., Osmond, C.B. & Jebb, M. Photoinhibition and recovery in tropical plant species: response to disturbance. Oecologia 97, 297–307 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317318
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00317318