In degraded environments with restricted seed availability, like those burned by wildfires in central Chile during 2017, the use of plant material from outside its area of origin for restoration purposes needs to be accurately investigated. We assessed the early development of three Chilean provenances of Quillaja saponaria grown in different container sizes (140 vs. 280 mL) in the nursery and then outplanted in a common field trial at a site severely affected by fire under Mediterranean-type climate. We analyzed growth, biomass, and leaf-level physiological traits. In the nursery, there was a significant provenance by container type interaction for the biomass traits (P < 0.05). Seedlings from the Maule provenance cultivated in larger containers had the highest biomass, while the lowest biomass was observed for the Metropolitan provenance cultivated in small containers. Two years after outplanting, the provenance by container size interaction was significant for stomatal conductance and chlorophyll density. Seedlings from the Metropolitan provenance cultivated in larger containers exhibited a higher stomatal conductance, while those from the Maule provenance cultivated in small containers exhibited the highest chlorophyll density. Seedling height showed significant variation for provenance and container size. The tallest seedlings were those grown in larger containers from the Maule provenance; however, no differences in survival and height increment were found. Gas exchange parameters differed among provenances, the Metropolitan provenance had a low performance and the opposite was found for the Biobío and Maule provenances. This study demonstrated that different provenances of Q. saponaria have stable performances in a Mediterranean site, which support their use for restoration purposes outside their home area with no detrimental effects on outplanting performance.

Biogeosciences and Forestry Biogeosciences and ForestryGrowth and physiological acclimation to shade in young plants of Adesmia bijuga Phil., a critically endangered species in central Chile Marco A Yáñez (1) , Persy Gómez (2) , John Gajardo (3) , Sergio Espinoza (4) Adesmia bijuga Phil. is an endemic and endangered shrub species of central Chile. Its potential shade intolerance is one of the leading hypotheses for its vigor loss when the species grows beneath closed canopies. The objective of this study was to assess the growth and physiological acclimation to the shade of young plants of A. bijuga. A nursery experiment was established with three light levels based on the interception of photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) (TRT0: control at full sun; TRT60: 60% shaded; TRT90: 90% shaded), and maintained for 71 days during the summer season. Growth and leaf morpho-physiological responses were evaluated at the beginning, at the middle, and at the end of the experiment. The shading treatment increased plant height (H), live crown percentage (Lcrown), and specific leaf area (SLA) compared to the control treatment at full sun. However, light-saturated photosynthetic rate (Amax), dark respiration rate (Rd), and light compensation point (Γi) were higher in TRT60 than in the other treatments, while no differences were found among treatments for the apparent quantum yield (α). At this stage of plant development, our results suggest high acclimation plasticity of A. bijuga to light levels; however, a semi-shade environment (i.e., TRT60) favored a better performance of the species.