Coste, S., Baraloto, C., Leroy, C., Marcon, E., Renaud, A., Richardson, A. D., et al. (2010). Assessing foliar chlorophyll contents with the SPAD-502 chlorophyll meter: a calibration test with thirteen tree species of tropical rainforest in French Guiana. Ann. For. Sci., 67(6), 607.
Abstract: Chlorophyll meters such as the SPAD-502 offer a simple, inexpensive and rapid method to estimate foliar chlorophyll content. However, values provided by SPAD-502 are unitless and require empirical calibrations between SPAD units and extracted chlorophyll values. Leaves of 13 tree species from the tropical rain forest in French Guiana were sampled to select the most appropriate calibration model among the often-used linear, polynomial and exponential models, in addition to a novel homographic model that has a natural asymptote. The homographic model best accurately predicted total chlorophyll content (mu g cm(-2)) from SPAD units (R-2 = 0.89). Interspecific differences in the homographic model parameters explain less than 7% of the variation in chlorophyll content in our data set. The utility of the general homographic model for a variety of research and management applications clearly outweighs the slight loss of model accuracy due to the abandon of the species' effect.
Keywords: chlorophyll estimate; model calibration; homographic functions; neotropical trees
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Coste, S., Roggy, J. C., Sonnier, G., & Dreyer, E. (2010). Similar irradiance-elicited plasticity of leaf traits in saplings of 12 tropical rainforest tree species with highly different leaf mass to area ratio. Funct. Plant Biol., 37(4), 342–355.
Abstract: Leaf traits of tropical tree species display an important inter-specific diversity, as detected for instance in the large range of values of leaf mass : area ratio (LMA). They also demonstrate a large irradiance-elicited plasticity, but there is still debate whether this plasticity differs among species. To address this question, leaf traits were recorded on saplings from 12 rainforest tree species in French Guiana, grown under approximately 5, 10 and 20% relative irradiance. Fifteen structural and physiological leaf traits related to photosynthesis were measured. The irradiance-elicited plasticity was quantified using a relative distance plasticity index. A large inter-specific diversity was detected for all leaf traits. A principal component analysis opposed species with a large mass-based photosynthesis, respiration, N content and photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency, to species with a large leaf mass : area ratio, LMA. The two pioneer species used in this study displayed the largest photosynthetic capacity (and lowest LMA) and ranked at one end of the species continuum. Relative irradiance affected almost all traits with the exception of mass-based photosynthesis. A weak interaction was found between species and relative irradiance and the species ranking was maintained among relative irradiance treatments for the majority of the traits. A principal component analysis of the values of relative-distance plasticity index failed to reveal any consistent patterns of traits or species. We concluded that irradiance-elicited plasticity of leaf traits was similar among species irrespective of LMA and successional status, despite the occurrence of a large inter-specific diversity for the investigated traits.
Keywords: functional diversity; light availability; photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency; photosynthetic capacity; tropical rainforest
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Coste, S., Roggy, J. C., Garraud, L., Heuret, P., Nicolini, E., & Dreyer, E. (2009). Does ontogeny modulate irradiance-elicited plasticity of leaf traits in saplings of rain-forest tree species? A test with Dicorynia guianensis and Tachigali melinonii (Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae). Ann. For. Sci., 66(7), 701–709.
Abstract: Irradiance elicits a large plasticity in leaf traits, but little is known about the modulation of this plasticity by ontogeny. Interactive effects of relative irradiance and ontogeny were assessed on leaf traits for two tropical rainforest tree species: Dicorynia guianensis Amshoff and Tachigali melinonii (Harms) Barneby (Fabaceae, Caesalpinioideae). Eleven morphological and physiological leaf traits, relative to photosynthetic performance, were measured on saplings at three different architectural development stages (ASD 1, 2 and 3) and used to derive composite traits like photosynthetic N-use efficiency. Measurements were made along a natural irradiance gradient. The effect of ASD was very visible and differed between the two species. For Dicorynia guianensis, only leaf mass-per-area (LMA) significantly increased with ASDs whereas for Tachigali melinonii, almost all traits were affected by ASD: LMA, leaf N content and photosynthetic capacity increased from ASD 1 to ASD 3. Photosynthetic N-use-efficiency was not affected by ASD in any species. Leaf traits were severely modulated by irradiance, whereas the degree of plasticity was very similar among ASDs. Only few interactions were detected between irradiance and ASD, for leaf thickness, carbon content, and the ratio Chl/N in T. melinonii and for photosynthetic capacity in D. guianensis. We conclude that ontogenic development and irradiance-elicited plasticity modulated leaf traits, with almost no interaction, i.e., the degree of irradiance-elicited plasticity was stable across development stages and independent of ontogeny in these two species, at least in the early stages of development assessed here.
Keywords: plant architecture; phenotypic plasticity; photosynthetic capacity; leaf structure; tropical rain forest
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Bonal, D., Born, C., Brechet, C., Coste, S., Marcon, E., Roggy, J. C., et al. (2007). The successional status of tropical rainforest tree species is associated with differences in leaf carbon isotope discrimination and functional traits. Ann. For. Sci., 64(2), 169–176.
Abstract: We characterised the among species variability in leaf gas exchange and morphological traits under controlled conditions of seedlings of 22 tropical rainforest canopy species to understand the origin of the variability in leaf carbon isotope discrimination (Delta) among species with different growth and dynamic characteristics (successional gradient). Our results first suggest that these species pursue a consistent strategy in terms of. throughout their ontogeny (juveniles grown here versus canopy adult trees from the natural forest). Second, leaf Delta was negatively correlated with WUE and N, and positively correlated with g(s), but among species differences in Delta were mainly explained by differences in WUE. Finally, species belonging to different successional groups display distinct leaf functional and morphological traits. We confirmed that fast growing early successional species maximise carbon assimilation with high stomatal conductance. In contrast, fast and slow growing late successional species are both characterised by low carbon assimilation values, but by distinct stomatal conductance and leaf morphological features. Along the successional gradient, these differences result in much lower Delta for the intermediate species (i.e. fast growing late successional) as compared to the two other groups.
Keywords: C-13; functional diversity; leaf gas exchange; species grouping; tropical rainforest
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Coste, S., Roggy, J. C., Imbert, P., Born, C., Bonal, D., & Dreyer, E. (2005). Leaf photosynthetic traits of 14 tropical rain forest species in relation to leaf nitrogen concentration and shade tolerance. Tree Physiol., 25(9), 1127–1137.
Abstract: Variability of leaf traits related to photosynthesis was assessed in seedlings from 14 tree species growing in the tropical rain forest of French Guiana. Leaf photosynthetic capacity (maximum rate of carboxylation and maximum rate of electron transport) was estimated by fitting a biochemical model of photosynthesis to response curves of net CO2 assimilation rate versus intercellular CO2 mole fraction. Leaf morphology described by leaf mass per unit leaf area (LMA), density and thickness, as well as area- and mass-based nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) concentrations, were recorded on the same leaves. Large interspecific variability was detected in photosynthetic capacity as well as in leaf structure and leaf N and C concentrations. No correlation was found between leaf thickness and density. The correlations between area- and mass-based leaf N concentration and photosynthetic capacity were poor. Conversely, the species differed greatly in relative N allocation to carboxylation and bioenergetics. Principal component analysis (PCA) revealed that, of the recorded traits, only the computed fraction of total leaf N invested in photosynthesis was tightly correlated to photosynthetic capacity. We also used PCA to test to what extent species with similar shade tolerances displayed converging leaf traits related to photosynthesis. No clear-cut ranking could be detected among the shade-tolerant groups, as confirmed by a one-way ANOVA. We conclude that the large interspecific diversity in photosynthetic capacity was mostly explained by differences in the relative allocation of N to photosynthesis and not by leaf N concentration, and that leaf traits related to photosynthetic capacity did not discriminate shade-tolerance ranking of these tropical tree species.
Keywords: functional diversity; leaf carbon; leaf nitrogen; nitrogen-use efficiency; photosynthetic capacity; tropical rain forest
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