Abstract
Ambient light significantly influences the structural and physiological characteristics of Iris pumila leaves. A random sample of Iris clones native to an exposed site at the Deliblato Sands, Serbia was partially covered with a neutral screen that transmitted 35% of daylight, so that each clone experienced reduced and full sunlight at the same time. The sun-exposed leaves were significantly thicker, had greater stomatal density, exhibited higher lipid peroxidation, increased activities of SOD, APX, CAT enzymes and higher contents of non-enzymatic antioxidants (anthocyanins and phenols) and water deficit relative to shade-leaves. The activities of GR, GPX, and GST enzymes was unaffected by the irradiance level.
Highlights
Irradiance is essential to all photosynthetic organisms, it is one of the most unstable environmental factors, on the daily scale (Larcher, 1995; Bazzaz, 1996; Lambers, 2008)
Leaf mass per unit area (LMA) increases with light intensity and ANA VULETA ET AL
A greater LMA is associated with a higher photosynthetic rate per unit leaf area
Summary
Irradiance is essential to all photosynthetic organisms, it is one of the most unstable environmental factors, on the daily scale (Larcher, 1995; Bazzaz, 1996; Lambers, 2008). In order to minimize excess light interception, many plants growing in full sunlight orient their leaves at a steep angle and produce thicker leaves (Mooney et al, 1977; Tucić et al, 1998) Such leaves have a higher content of most photosynthetic components per unit area, and a higher rate of photosynthesis (Hanba et al, 2002; Oguchi et al, 2005). Since direct determination of leaf thickness is not always simple, it is often estimated indirectly, and a number of substitutes are proposed and used (Vile et al, 2005; White and Montes-R, 2005) One such estimate is the ratio of leaf dry mass to leaf surface area (LMA). LMA increases with light intensity and ANA VULETA ET AL
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