AOBPreview originally published online on November 16, 2007
Annals of Botany 2008 101(1):165-173; doi:10.1093/aob/mcm287
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Effect of Water Content Components on Desiccation and Recovery in Sphagnum Mosses
Hájek1,2,*
1 Institute of Botany of ASCR, Dukelská 135, CZ-379 82 T
ebo
, Czech Republic
2 Faculty of Science, University of South Bohemia, Braniovská 31, CZ-370 05 
eské Bud
jovice, Czech Republic
3 School of Biological and Conservation Sciences, University of KwaZulu Natal, Private Bag X01, Scottsville 3209, Republic of South Africa
* For correspondence. E-mail hajek{at}butbn.cas.cz
Received: 5 June 2007 Returned for revision: 15 August 2007 Accepted: 2 October 2007 Published electronically: 16 November 2007
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ABSTRACT |
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 TOP ABSTRACT INTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONACKNOWLEDGEMENTSLITERATURE CITED |
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Background and Aims: The basic parameters of water relations were measured in Sphagnum mosses. The relationships of these parameters to the photosynthetic response to desiccation and the ecology of these mosses were then tested.
Methods: The water relations parameters of six Sphagnum species (mosses typical of wet habitats) and Atrichum androgynum (a moss more typical of mesophytic conditions) were calculated from pressure–volume isotherms. Photosynthetic properties during and after moderate desiccation were monitored by chlorophyll fluorescence.
Key Results: When desiccated, the hummock-forming species S. fuscum and S. magellanicum lost more water before turgor started dropping than other sphagna inhabiting less exposed habitats (73 % compared with 56 % on average). Osmotic potentials at full turgor were similar in all species, with an average value of –1·1 MPa. Hummock sphagna had clearly more rigid cell walls than species of wet habitats (
= 3·55 compared with 1·93 MPa). As a result, their chlorophyllous cells lost turgor at higher relative water contents (RWCs) than species of wet habitats (0·61 compared with 0·46) and at less negative osmotic potentials (–2·28 compared with –3·00 MPa). During drying, 
PSII started declining earlier in hummock species (at an RWC of 0·65 compared with 0·44), and Fv/Fm behaved similarly. Compared with other species, hummock sphagna desiccated to –20 or –40 MPa recovered more completely after rehydration. Atrichum androgynum responded to desiccation similarly to hummock sphagna, suggesting that their desiccation tolerance may have a similar physiological basis.
Conclusions: Assuming a fixed rate of desiccation, the higher water-holding capacities of hummock sphagna will allow them to continue metabolism for longer than other species. While this could be viewed as a form of ‘desiccation avoidance’, hummock species also recover faster than other species during rehydration, suggesting that they have higher inherent tolerance. This may help them to persist in drought-exposed hummocks. In contrast, species growing in wet habitats lack such strong avoidance and tolerance mechanisms. However, their turgor maintenance mechanisms, for example more elastic cell walls, enable them to continue metabolizing longer as their water contents fall to the turgor-loss point.
Key words: Sphagnum, Atrichum androgynum, mosses, desiccation, recovery, water content, turgor, wall elasticity, photosynthesis, chlorophyll fluorescence
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INTRODUCTION |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONACKNOWLEDGEMENTSLITERATURE CITED |
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Peat mosses (genus Sphagnum) have the unique ability to modify their environment by forming peat when they die. Decay is inhibited by unfavourable soil conditions, and low quality Sphagnum litter accumulates. The resulting marshy conditions favour the continued growth of Sphagnum. Sphagnum species have arrangements of shoots, branches and leaves that enable them to conduct and retain water efficiently. Their tissues consist of large dead empty cells perforated by pores. Such cells in the leaves are termed ‘hyaline’, and occupy a substantially larger volume than the living chorophyllose cells. Thus in Sphagnum the external, capillary water fraction considerably exceeds the cytoplasmic (symplast) water fraction held within the fully turgid cells. In addition, apoplastic water, i.e. water firmly bound within cell walls, comprises a third fraction (Dilks and Proctor, 1979). This unusual cellular structure makes it difficult to determine the basic water parameters of peat mosses, and perhaps not surprisingly surveys of mosses have not included Sphagnum species (e.g. Proctor et al., 1998; Proctor, 1999). However, providing that proper precautions are taken, thermocouple psychrometry can be used to produce pressure–volume (PV) curves, even with ‘difficult’ mosses such as Sphagnum. From these curves, all of the basic parameters of water relations can be determined. The first aim of the work presented here was to estimate these parameters for a range of Sphagnum species. The results were also compared with data obtained using the same techniques with the more desiccation-tolerant moss Atrichum androgynum, and also with data in the literature for other mosses and liverworts.
Sphagna are generally assumed to be desiccation-intolerant mosses, which avoid desiccation by storing water (Green, 1968; Shipperges and Rydin, 1998). In Sphagnum-dominated peatlands, various characteristic Sphagnum species grow along a vertical ‘hummock–hollow’ gradient (Rydin, 1993). It has been suggested that species originating from wet hollows show better recovery after desiccation than species from drier hummocks (Wagner and Titus, 1984). This paradox was explained as a trade-off between desiccation resistance by avoidance, i.e. high water-holding capacity in compact hummocks and true desiccation tolerance, developed in sparsely growing hollow species that lose water and dry quickly in dry periods. Although it was later concluded that there are no general differences in the extent of desiccation tolerance between hummock and hollow species (Rydin et al., 2006), the physiological mechanisms responsible for unequal desiccation tolerance among Sphagnum species are unknown. The second aim of this study was to compare water relation parameters and the response of photosynthesis to desiccation in Sphagnum species co-existing along the hummock–hollow gradient, and to test if these parameters can explain their different ecological niches.
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MATERIALS AND METHODS |
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Plant material
Four Sphagnum species were collected from open parts of the peatbog Mrtv
luh in the 
umava National Park, Czech Republic. In this peatbog, S. fuscum tends to form elevated hummocks, while S. magellanicum forms rather lower flattish hummocks; for convenience both species are referred to as hummock species in this study. In contrast, S. cuspidatum and S. tenellum are typically species of hollows, occupying wet depressions between hummocks. Sphagum girgensohnii typically occupies understorey habitats. Material was collected from Pinus sylvestris forest surrounding Purkrabsk pond in Tebosko Landscape Protected Area, Czech Republic. Atrichum androgynum was collected from the understorey of the Afromontane forest dominated by Podocarpus at Ferncliffe, Pietermaritzburg, Republic of South Africa. All mosses were collected hydrated, transported in the dark and then kept in a growth chamber at 20 °C, relative humidity of 100 % and photosynthetic photon flux density (PPFD) of 50 µmol m–2 s–1 for at least 6 weeks.
Water potential (
) determination
Apical 6 mm shoot segments of each species were washed in distilled water and thoroughly blotted using paper towels until they released almost no water. They were then quickly placed in five steel cups and transferred to a ten-sample thermocouple psychrometer (Decagon SC-10A; Decagon Devices, Pullman, WA, USA) linked to a Wescor HR-33T microvoltmeter (Wescor Electronics, Logan, UT, USA). After equilibration for 8–16 h (or 4 h for A. androgynum) the water potential () of moss samples was measured, together with deionized water and two standard solutions. Moss samples were then allowed to lose about 5–20 % of their water (more in the beginning at high external water content) and allowed to equilibrate again. Measurements were repeated until the water potential fell to about –10 MPa. After that, the cups were placed in a desiccator over 2 M NaCl solutions for 25 h to equilibrate mosses to a water potential of –20 MPa. Samples were kept in the dark during the experimental period of about 10 d (3 d for A. androgynum). Raw estimates of were corrected to the standard temperature of 20 °C.
Calculation of the parameters of water relations
PV curves were plotted as the reciprocal of against 1–RWCu (relative water content uncorrected for external water; RWCu = 1 in blotted moss); an example is presented in Fig. 1. The PV curve was linear at low , where turgor does not contribute to . The apoplastic water fraction was calculated as 1 – x-intercept of the extrapolated linear portion of the PV curve and recalculated to apoplastic WC (water content in g g–1 of dry weight). Turgor potential (p) was calculated as the difference of the extrapolated linear portion and the actual curve, and was plotted as a function of WC. With increasing WC, p increased almost linearly above the turgor loss point (TLP) to full turgor (FT), a maximum where the RWC (RWCu corrected for the external water) is stated to be 1 (cf. Beckett, 1997). p was plotted as a function of RWC, and the gradient of a linear regression fitted to p between RWC at TLP (RWCTLP) and FT was used to quantify the elasticity modulus of cell walls (). Osmotic potential (
) at FT (s) was calculated as the y-intercept of the linear portion of the PV curve. The WC above FT was assumed to be external, while the WC at FT after subtracting apoplastic WC was assumed to be symplastic. In practice, mosses had very slightly negative water potentials at FT (probably samples were not equilibrated completely) and as a result the estimates of maximum p (i.e. those at FT) were slightly less than s (theoretically, p = – at FT). For convenience, estimates of p at FT were adjusted according to the value of –s.
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Chlorophyll fluorescence measurements
During the construction of the PV curve by slow desiccation in the thermocouple psychrometer, the state of the photosynthetic apparatus was studied by measuring chlorophyll fluorescence using a modulated fluorimeter (FMS2; Hansatech Instruments, King's Lynn, UK). The fibreoptic probe was inserted tightly into the loading aperture of the thermocouple psychrometer using a specially manufactured adaptor. This enabled the measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence in completely dark-relaxed samples immediately after the water potential measurement. After Fo and Fm measurements, an actinic light at a PPFD of 22 µmol m–2 s–1 was switched on and Fs and F'm were recorded after 210 s. A low actinic light intensity was selected to prevent photodamage in dark-desiccated samples. Fv/Fm and
PSII were calculated following Maxwell and Johnson (2000). Fluorescence was measured after each determination in experimental samples and also in three fully hydrated control samples. The hydrated controls allowed adjustment of the chlorophyll fluorescence parameters according to changes that occurred as a result of acclimation to the dark conditions. This procedure had only a minimal effect on the parameters during the first stages of external water loss. The moss samples were rehydrated after storage for 25 h at a of –20 MPa in the dark, and fluorescence was measured after 15 min and at selected intervals during rehydration for 4 d. Another five replicates of all species were equilibrated over 1 M NaCl ( = –5 MPa) for 60 h and then over saturated NaCl solution at a of –40 MPa. After 48 h, the samples were rewetted and Fv/Fm recovery measured after 4 d.
Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters
Chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (F, i.e. Fv/Fm and PSII) were measured in desiccating mosses during construction of the PV curve, and plotted against WC. The resulting curve could be described by the function F = (Fmax x WC x a)/(Fmax c + WCc x ac)(1/c), where Fmax is the unstressed maximum parameter value, a is the slope of the parameter decrease at low WC and c expresses the sharpness of the curve when the parameter started to fall. The WC when Fv/Fm or PSII started to fall was calculated as a WC at 0·95 Fmax, and osmotic potentials at these points were calculated. Moss dark recovery after rehydration following desiccation was expressed as a percentage of the original (Fmax) value following rehydration for 15 min and 4 d.
Statistical analyses
Data were analysed using STATISTICA version 7·1 (StatSoft, Inc., USA). All the measurements were done using five replicates per species. One-way general linear model (GLM) anlyses of variance (ANOVAs) were carried out to test species for differences in parameters followed by Tukey's honestly significant difference (HSD) test to determine the significant differences between species means. Linear regressions were run to test statistical significance of selected parameter correlations. Principal component analysis (PCA) using Canoco for Windows 4·5 (Lep and milauer, 2003) was applied to show the correlations between different water relation and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters and their relationships to moss species. The species data were centred and standardized in order to make the variables comparable.
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RESULTS |
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Basic parameters of water relations
Table 1 presents 16 parameters of water relations in Sphagnum species and A. androgynum. Figure 2 shows some typical results for S. fuscum. The blotted Sphagnum shoots contained a high volume of external water (2·3–6·0 g g–1). During drying, the presence of this external water meant that
remained close to zero until the minimum WC at which plants were still at FT. After further water loss, and p rapidly declined. In contrast, A. androgynum contained a very small volume of external water, and (and p) declined immediately during desiccation (data not shown). The x-intercept of the linear part of the PV curves did not change when the value of WC corresponding to a of –20 MPa was included. Sphagnum shoots did not change their architecture when the turgor was lost. When rewetted, they absorbed the water within a minute. In contrast, A. androgynum leaves rolled up during drying, and needed several minutes to rehydrate completely when rewetted.
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PCA (Fig. 3) revealed correlations between the parameters of water relations, and relationships between species and parameters. The separation of the first principal component axis, which explained 51 % of the total variation, is mainly controlled by TLP-related parameters. The second axis explained 22 % of the total variation. Allocation of species' centroids in the PCA distinguished between parameters showing general differences between A. androgynum and all sphagna, and parameters forming gradients within Sphagnum. The latter parameters were able to separate hummock species (S. fuscum and S. magellanicum) from species growing in hollows (S. tenellum) and S. girgensohnii from a forest floor habitat. Sphagum cuspidatum displayed an intermediate character for many of the parameters. In S. fuscum and S. magellanicum, turgor pressure started to fall later (lower WC at RWC = 1) but was lost early (high RWCTLP). In addition, the maximum
p (equivalent to –s) was significantly higher in S. fuscum. All these factors are linked to higher cell wall rigidity (elastic modulus, ) in the two hummock species.
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All sphagna differed from A. androgynum not only by having a high volume of external water, but also by having almost double the volume of apoplastic water. The volume of external water was positively correlated with the apoplastic water fraction within Sphagnum (P = 0·002, n = 25).
Response of the photosynthetic apparatus to desiccation
During drying, the photosynthetic activity (PSII) started to decline at values of RWC or close to those corresponding to the TLP (Table 1). In contrast, the potential efficiency of relaxed photosystem II (PSII), Fv/Fm, only started to decline at lower tissue WCs, typically when all turgor was lost (Fig. 2). Comparing results from all the Sphagnum species showed that the RWCs at which both fluorescence parameters decreased were correlated with RWCTLP (linear regressions, P < 0·0001, n = 30). While PSII has already disappeared at = –20 MPa, Fv/Fm fell only to 80 % in A. androgynum, to 68–45 % in most sphagna but to almost zero in S. tenellum (Fig. 4). Such relatively high values of Fv/Fm were a consequence of decreased Fo in desiccated samples (data not shown).
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In general, species in which photosynthetic parameters began falling early during desiccation to –20 MPa (Table 1) recovered more completely during rehydration (Fig. 4). This was especially true for Fv/Fm. Here, long-term recovery after 4 d was strongly correlated with the value of
corresponding to the point at which PSII started falling (P < 0·0001, n = 30 for all species and replicates). Similarly, following exposure to –40 MPa, the ability of Fv/Fm to recover after rehydration for 4 d was strongly correlated to the values of when PSII started falling (P = 0·009, n = 6 means). The ability of mosses to display short-time recovery (within 15 min or 1 h) correlated very closely with the values of Fv/Fm at = –20 MPa (r = 0·94 and 0·96 for Fv/Fm and PSII recovery, respectively).
Relationship between water relations parameters, photosynthesis and ecology
PCA analysis of the parameters presented in Table 1 separated the more desiccation-tolerant species on the right hand side, specifically the hummock species S. fuscum and S. magellanicum and particularly A. androgynum (Fig. 3). These species also displayed much better recovery of Fv/Fm following exposure to = –40 MPa (Fig. 4) than the sphagna inhabiting hollows (S. cuspidatum and S. tenellum) and wet forest floor (S. girgensohnii). Although osmotic potential at FT and osmotic potential at TLP were not correlated (P = 0·55, n = 30), desiccation tolerance was associated with low WC at FT (and more negative s) and high RWCTLP (and less negative ). A decrease in the amount of water lost between FT and TLP in more desiccation-tolerant species was a consequence of higher . Therefore, was closely correlated to the recovery of Fv/Fm and PSII after rewetting (P < 0·0001, n = 30).
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DISCUSSION |
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TOPABSTRACTINTRODUCTIONMATERIALS AND METHODSRESULTSDISCUSSIONACKNOWLEDGEMENTSLITERATURE CITED |
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It is well known that sphagna hold a substantial volume of water within dead hyaline cells, outside the protoplasts. This is the first study to use PV analyses in Sphagnum to estimate first the amount of external water, and secondly the water relation parameters of living chlorophyllous cells, such as water content, maximum turgor pressure or cell wall modulus of elasticity. By measuring these parameters, the physiological condition of the moss (here the condition of the photosynthetic apparatus) could be assessed at precisely known WCs and water potentials.
Cellular location of water in Sphagnum
Total WCs of fully saturated mosses tend to be higher in hummock than hollow species (Table 1). Using thermocouple psychrometry, it is possible to divide the total WC of Sphagnum into three fractions. The first fraction comprises the ‘external water’ in Table 1, and varied between 54 % of total water in S. cuspidatum to 77 % in S. megellanicum. This proportion was generally higher in hummock species. External water can probably be divided into two sub-fractions: (a) excess water held in capillary spaces between branches and leaves that remains after blotting the moss; and (b) water in the hyaline cells. The diameter of the pores in the hyaline cells determines the at which the water meniscus in the pore breaks and the cells become air filled. For example, the meniscus will collapse in a cell with a pore size of 8 µm when falls to –19 kPa (Clymo and Hayward, 1982). These sub-fractions cannot be distinguished by psychrometry, but it seems to be reasonable to assume that most of the water was in the hyaline cells in the blotted samples. Once desiccation removes all the water from the hyaline cells, mosses start losing water in the second fraction, corresponding to cytoplasmic water in the chlorophyllous cells. Loss of this water is accompanied by a rapid decline in (Fig. 2). The third fraction of water is the apoplastic water, i.e. water bound within cell walls. This can be calculated from the interception of the extrapolation of the linear part of the PV curve with the x-axis. Apoplastic water varied from 3·7 to 6·5 % of the total, and was generally lower in the hummock species (Table 1). However, because they contained more water in total, hummock species contained more apoplastic water per unit dry weight. A possible explanation for this is that hummock sphagna tend to have higher contents of cell wall uronic acids, and these can readily bind water (Clymo, 1963; Spearing 1972; Clymo and Hayward, 1982). Previous works on mosses and liverworts (Proctor et al., 1998; Proctor, 1999) disputed the reliability of this approach of estimating apoplastic water using data measured down to = –6 MPa and suggested including vapour equilibration at lower . The present data indicated that the measurements down to –10 MPa are sufficient for precise and reliable estimates of apoplastic WC because the additional sample equilibration at = –20 MPa did not change the estimates of basic water parameters. Radin (1983) has suggested that low apoplastic WC may represent a turgor maintenance mechanism, because it can reduce RWCTLP. However, in the sphagna tested here these two variables were not correlated, and the significance of the observed variations in apoplastic WCs remains unclear. However, thermocouple psychrometry has for the first time allowed the cellular water of sphagna to be divided accurately into its various fractions.
Cell wall modulus of elasticity
Increased s (osmotic adjustment) and decreased (i.e. cell wall rigidity) are other mechanisms maintaining turgor to lower RWC (Radin, 1983). In S. fuscum, s was lower (more negative) than in the other species. However, despite this, S. fuscum reached the TLP at a high RWC. In mosses, however, s is generally not related to habitat conditions (Proctor et al., 1998; Proctor, 1999), although Beckett (1995) found that more desiccation-tolerant lichens from drier habitats tended to have lower s. In contrast, there are clear differences in between species and habitat types. Cell walls in A. androgynum and hummock sphagna were more rigid (had high ) and so were not able to maintain turgor to such low RWC as S. girgensohnii and S. tenellum. The elasticity modulus was the most important parameter that controlled RWCTLP. The absolute values of cannot be directly compared with those presented in the literature, because a linear fit (Fig. 2) to p was used, which assumes constant between full turgidity and TLP. Nevertheless, the published values of (Proctor et al., 1998; Proctor, 1999) are correlated well with those recalculated as a simple ratio of the published values of –s (equivalent to maximum turgor) and [1 – RWCTLP] (r = 0·88). Such a comparison showed a low in all sphagna, notably S. girgensohnii and S. tenellum, comparable with Proctor's thalloid liverworts Conocephalum conicum or Dumortiera hirsuta. In these liverworts, low causes turgor loss at an RWC of about 0·6. In S. girgensohnii and S. tenellum, similarly low values of in combination with high external water resulted in RWCTLP at values lower than those recorded in any moss, liverwort or lichens (Beckett, 1995, 1997; Proctor et al., 1998; Proctor, 1999). Assuming that positive turgor is needed for cell division, the implication is that during a desiccation event S. girgensohnii and S. tenellum can continue growing for longer than other mosses, liverwort and lichens.
Response of the photosynthetic apparatus to desiccation
Complete turgor loss was accompanied by a decrease in photosynthetic activity, measured as PSII, while Fv/Fm, which is independent of subsequent CO2 assimilation, remained unchanged up to even lower RWC.
Photosynthetic activity, measured as PSII, only started to decline when almost all turgor was lost (Table 1). Interestingly, the results presented here differ from those of Csintalan et al. (1999) and Proctor et al. (2007). These authors reported that chlorophyll fluorescence parameters start to decline together with p during the desiccation of mosses. However, p and RWCTLP were quantifed here using a more accurate method. Relatively high values of Fv/Fm in the dry state (Fig. 4) were a consequence of quenching of basal chlorophyll fluorescence Fo, which serves as a photoprotective heat dissipation mechanism in PSII reaction centres and is inherent to poikilohydric autotrophs (Heber et al., 2006a, b).
In general, sphagna that lost their turgor quickly during drying due to higher also lost photosynthetic activity quickly (i.e. A. androgynum and the hummock sphagna), but also showed better dark recovery of Fv/Fm and PSII. In contrast, S. tenellum and S. girgensohnii with the most elastic cell walls maintained turgor pressure down to very low but their rates of long- and short-term recovery of Fv/Fm and PSII showed that they were more damaged. In bryophytes, recovery from desiccation seems to depend on inherent desiccation tolerance, rather than mechanisms repairing damaged structures; however, more than one constitutive and also inducible protectants seem to play important roles (Oliver et al., 2005; Rascio and Rocca, 2005). In the work presented here, rehydration following dehydration was in the dark, and therefore was not affected by light-induced damage. Other workers have suggested that recovery under these conditions does not require protein resynthesis (Proctor and Smirnoff, 2000; Proctor et al., 2007). Therefore, the desiccation tolerance displayed by the mosses used here probably represents a kind of constitutive adaptation, a physical rearrangement of cellular structures after rewetting, as has been described recently in Polytrichum formosum (Proctor et al., 2007). This species is taxonomically related and ecologically and physiologically similar to A. androgynum. Polytrichum responded to desiccation in a similar way to A. androgynum and hummock sphagna, suggesting that their desiccation tolerance may have similar physiological bases.
Desiccation in Sphagnum ecology
The results of the present study clearly showed that desiccation tolerance is greater in hummock species than in those that grow in hollows (Fig. 4), as would be intuitively predicted. The differences in the sensitivity of sphagna from contrasting habitats to the ecologically probable water pressure deficits used here suggest that desiccation tolerance may be an important factor in Sphagnum ecology. While two earlier studies have reported that hummock sphagna display less desiccation tolerance than those growing in hollows, these studies may have used inappropriate desiccation protocols or collection methods. Wagner and Titus (1984) tested survival and recovery of photosynthesis in one hummock and one hollow species, S. capillifolium and S. fallax, respectively. The latter species showed much better desiccation tolerance after being dried to a WC of 0·2 g g–1 for 5 d. However, this amount of water corresponds to less water than even the apoplastic WC of the Sphagnum species used in the present study and probably corresponds to a of less than –50 MPa. Sagot and Rochefort (1996) oven dried individuals of six Sphagnum species for 48 h at 30 °C. While only S. fallax appeared to survive, the ecological relevance of such fast and severe drying is uncertain.
A further possible reason for the differences between the present results and those of earlier studies relate to the way the mosses were collected. Beckett et al. (2005) showed that partial dehydration before severe desiccation significantly increased the rate of recovery of PSII in A. androgynum; abscisic acid served as a signal for induction of desiccation tolerance. For the material used in the present study, the Sphagnum samples were collected during a humid period, and were unlikely to be affected by drought. After collection, the mosses were stored for several weeks under moderate temperatures, low light intensities and water-saturated conditions. This would remove any previous environmental effects that would tend to increase desiccation tolerance. However, earlier workers appear not to have used a period of ‘de-acclimation’ before their experiments, and their results may have been influenced by weather conditions before collection. For example, the samples of Wagner and Titus (1984) had apparently experienced severe desiccation before collection from the field. The results presented here show that hummock species have greater desiccation tolerance, which is inherent, not induced by a previous desiccation event. This is also consistent with their ecology. Desiccation tolerance can help hummock-forming Sphagnum species to outgrow the competition of other sphagna that normally grow in a water-saturated environment and so enable them to persist in their own drought-exposed microhabitat, the hummock. In the hummock, hollow species are excluded due to their inability not only to avoid but also to tolerate desiccation.
Conclusions
From an ecological point of view, it is possible to consider Sphagnum mosses as succulents. They could be viewed as classical ‘drought avoiders’, avoiding desiccation by storing a large volume of water. However, unlike true succulents, their water is not cytoplasmic but rather is stored in dead hyaline cells. The result of containing such water is that turgor only starts dropping at low WCs. Also, unlike succulents, they have moderate tolerance of low tissue WCs. Although the desiccation avoidance is often contrasted with physiological tolerance, the present results suggested that hummock sphagna have both mechanisms, even if tolerance is restricted to moderate levels of desiccation stress. To survive on exposed hummocks, they ‘store’, i.e. retain externally, more water than species typical of hollows, and if they dry out their photosynthesis recovers more completely. Use of thermocouple psychrometry has for the first time allowed an accurate estimation of the amount of water associated with a thallus that is ‘stored’ in different species. In contrast, sphagna that grow in less exposed habitats, such as hollows and the forest floor, only very rarely dry out. In these species, the absence of metabolically expensive desiccation tolerance mechanisms, but nevertheless an ability to maintain positive turgor and photosynthesis down to low WCs, may optimize their growth rates, which are generally higher than in hummock-forming sphagna (Rydin et al., 2006).
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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We gratefully acknowledge financial support from the Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic (grant no. MSM 123100004) and Grant Agency of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (grant no. AV0Z60050516).
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LITERATURE CITED |
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