Abstract
The morphological, anatomical and biochemical traits of the leaves of yellow foxglove (Digitalis grandiflora Mill.) from two microhabitats, forest interior (full shade under oak canopy) and forest edge (half shade near shrubs), were studied. The microhabitats differed in the mean levels of available light, but did not differ in soil moisture. The mean level of light in the forest edge microhabitat was significantly higher than in the forest interior. Multivariate ANOVA was used to test the effects of microhabitat. Comparison of the available light with soil moisture revealed that both factors significantly influenced the morphological and anatomical variables of D. grandiflora. Leaf area, mass, leaf mass per area (LMA), surface area per unit dry mass (SLA), density and thickness varied greatly between leaves exposed to different light regimes. Leaves that developed in the shade were larger and thinner and had a greater SLA than those that developed in the half shade. In contrast, at higher light irradiances, at the forest edge, leaves tended to be thicker, with higher LMA and density. Stomatal density was higher in the half-shade leaves than in the full-shade ones. LMA was correlated with leaf area and mass and to a lesser extent with thickness and density in the forest edge microsite. The considerable variations in leaf density and thickness recorded here confirm the very high variation in cell size and amounts of structural tissue within species. The leaf plasticity index (PI) was the highest for the morphological leaf traits as compared to the anatomical and biochemical ones. The nitrogen content was higher in the ?half-shade leaves? than in the ?shade leaves?. Denser leaves corresponded to lower nitrogen (N) contents. The leaves of plants from the forest edge had more potassium (K) than leaves of plants from the forest interior on an area basis but not on a dry mass basis; the reverse was true for phosphorus.
Highlights
Plants exhibit a capacity to modify their phenotypes, so-called phenotypic plasticity, depending on the environment in which they grow (Weiner, 2004)
Percent light reaching differed significantly between sites (P 0.37; repeated-measures ANOVA) and for soil moisture (F = 0.932, P >0.54; repeated-measures ANOVA)
The multivariate ANOVA to test the effects of microhabitat, light reaching and soil moisture showed that microhabitat (P
Summary
Plants exhibit a capacity to modify their phenotypes, so-called phenotypic plasticity, depending on the environment in which they grow (Weiner, 2004). The phenotypic plasticity of plant structure is an important aspect of adaptation, enabling adaptation to heterogeneous environments (Crick and Grime, 1987; Via et al, 1995; Guo et al, 2007). Morphological plasticity plays an important role in resource acquisition by plants. Many studies have examined phenotypic plasticity as an individual model of plant adaptation to the environment (Platenkamp, 1990; Sultan and Bazzaz, 1993; Oyama, 1994; Via et al, 1995; Galloway, 1995; Ackerly et al, 2000; Donohue et al, 2001)
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