Comparative winter frost resistance of plant species from southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and South America grown in a common environment (Dunedin, New Zealand)

Abstract

The foliar frost resistance of plant species from the Southern Hemisphere is generally less than that of their northern equivalents, but are there differences between species from different southern land masses? Frost damage was determined visually and from measures of chlorophyll fluorescence: the two methods gave similar estimates of frost resistance. Amajority of species had frost resistances that were in accord with frost hardiness ratings derived from USDA climate zones, but species assigned to warmer climate zones were often more frost resistant than expected. USDA climate zones, which are based on continental climates in the Northern Hemisphere, may need re-evaluation for the oceanic climates in the Southern Hemisphere. The frost resistance of various plant species from New Zealand, Australia, South America, and South Africa was determined in a common environment in the Dunedin Botanic Garden and its environs during the Dunedin winter (June-July 2005). South American species were the most frost resistant, followed by New Zealand, Australian, and South African species, which were generally the least resistant. Broadleaved trees and shrubs, and conifers, showed a similar pattern of resistance with respect to countries. These patterns were less consistent for families and genera and it was concluded that the climate of origin rather than taxonomic affinity determined the winter frost resistance of species sampled in the Botanic Gardens.

Changes in thermic limits and acclimation assessment for an alpine plant by chlorophyll fluorescence analysis: F_v/F_mvs. R_fd

“…However, the thermic damage studies by chlorophyll fluorescence focus mainly in Fv/Fm as indicator of damage (eg. Fisker et al 1995, Germino and Smith 2000, Bannister and Lord 2006, Ehlert and Hincha 2008, Martínez-Peñalver et al 2011, Sierra-Almeida and Cavieres 2012, Venn et al 2013, Briceño et al 2014, Pescador et al 2016, and few studies consider Rfd (Balota and Lichtenthaler 1999, Murkowski 2001, Mishra et al 2014. Although contrasting between Chl fluorescence and electrolyte leakeage (Ehlert and Hincha 2008) and visual damage methods (Bannister et al 2005) have been conducted, to our knowledge, studies that evidence simultaneously the variability in LT50 values obtained by Fv/Fm and Rfd are absent.…”

Does microwaving or freezing reduce the losses of non-structural carbohydrates during plant sample processing?

“…2 Effect of sampling preservation treatments on non-structural carbohydrate (NSC), starch, and low-molecular weight sugars (SS) concentrations in branch sapwood and leaves (averaged for six woody species) (Table 1). Different uppercase letters indicate statistically significant differences among sample preservation treatments and tissues resistance in plant species of the southern Andes (e.g., alpine plants, temperate trees) (Bannister and Lord 2006;Sierra-Almeida et al 2009), and it has been reported in two of the species studied here: Nothofagus dombeyi (Reyes-Diaz et al 2005) and Embothrium coccineum (Alberdi 1995). In the same line, temperature as low as − 20°C is tolerated by Berberis empetrifolia (Bannister and Lord 2006), a shrub similar in shape and distribution to B. microphylla.…”

Methods for Measuring Frost Tolerance of Conifers: A Systematic Map

“…An extensive number of academic reviews are available on the nature of frost hardiness of plants in general [11,12], cereals [13], woody plants [ [14][15][16], trees [3,17] and the molecular mechanisms of frost hardiness [3,11,16,18]. published a book on the frost hardiness of conifers [19] that includes a chapter describing methods used for measuring frost hardiness [20].…”