A combination of morphological and photosynthetic functional traits maintains the vertical distribution of bryophytes in a subtropical cloud forest

Abstract

Premise The distribution and performance of bryophyte species vary with vertical gradients, as a result of changes in environmental factors, especially light. However, the morphological and physiological drivers of bryophyte distribution along forest vertical gradients are poorly understood. Methods For 18 species of mosses and liverworts distributed among three vertical microhabitats (ground, tree trunk, and branch, variance in 28 morphological and photosynthetic functional traits was comparatively analyzed among the microhabitats and bryophyte life‐forms in a subtropical cloud forest in Ailao Mountain, Yunnan, southwestern China. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to summarize trait differences among bryophyte species. Results In contrast to trunk and ground dwellers, branch dwellers tended to reduce light interception (smaller leaf and cell sizes, lower chlorophyll content), protect against damage from intense irradiation (higher ratios of carotenoids to chlorophyll), raise light energy use (higher photosynthetic capacity), and cope with lower environmental moisture (pendant life‐forms, thicker cell walls). The PCA showed that ecological strategies of bryophytes in response to levels of irradiation were specialized in branch dwellers, although those of ground and trunk dwellers were less distinct. Conclusions Environmental filtering shaped the combination of functional traits and the spatial distribution of bryophytes along the vertical gradients. Bryophyte species from the upper canopy of cloud forests show narrow variation in functional traits in high‐light intensity, whereas species in the lower vertical strata associated with low‐light intensity used contrasting, but more diverse ecological strategies.

Cell wall thickness and composition are related to photosynthesis in Antarctic mosses

“…The photosynthetic rates reported in the present study are within the ranges previously reported for mosses (Alpert & Oechel, 1987;Williams & Flanagan, 2002;Brodribb et al, 2007Brodribb et al, , 2020Waite & Sack, 2010;Hanson et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2014;Carriquí et al, 2019;Fan et al, 2020;Perera-Castro et al, 2020a,b, c). The two Polytrichum species achieved the largest A N and g m due to their specific characteristics, as already shown by Carriquí et al (2019).…”

“…Bryophyte photosynthesis-that is, photosynthetic efficiency and limitationshas been scarcely studied in comparison to that of spermatophytes (Flexas et al, 2018;. However, there is evidence on how low their net CO 2 assimilation (A N ) rates are as compared to other land plants groups (Alpert & Oechel, 1987;Williams & Flanagan, 2002;Brodribb et al, 2007Brodribb et al, , 2020Waite & Sack, 2010;Hanson et al, 2014;Wang et al, 2014;Carriquí et al, 2019;Gago et al, 2019;Fan et al, 2020;Perera-Castro et al, 2020a,b,c). Recently, Carriquí et al (2019) performed a detailed study analysing which traits limited photosynthesis in the gametophytes of several bryophyte species.…”

500 million years of charted territory: functional ecological traits in bryophytes

“…While in some cases these groupings may resemble the more traditional "life-form" or "growth-form" types of classification, they regularly do not (e.g. Fan et al 2020). While trait correlations have been identified with photosynthetic traits (Waite & Sack 2011, Wang et al 2014, 2017a&b, Mazziotta et al 2019, the relationship between photosynthetic traits and water relations is more complicated, and potentially phylogenetically constrained (Wang & bader 2018).…”

“…Sierra et al 2019, Marks et al 2019a, sub-tropical (e.g. Wang et al 2017b, Fan et al 2020) and mediterranean (e.g. Fernández-Martínez et al 2019, Spitale et al 2020 biomes, much of the work continues to focus on higher-latitude ecosystems, especially in the northern hemisphere.…”

Remediation of pear iron chlorosis by nanocellulose-iron chelation and mechanisms

“…Chlorophyll content, active Fe content, and chlorophyll uorescence parameters are major physiological indicators for studying plant physiological processes [41]. In this study, the SPAD value was used to evaluate the effects of NCFe on the chlorophyll content in leaves (Fig.…”