A Comparison of the Respiratory Processes and Growth Rate of Selected Australian Alpine and Related Lowland Plant Species

Abstract

Respiratory processes and growth rates of alpine and lowland species of three genera (Ranunculus, Plantago and Luzula) were compared. Relative growth rates were determined for the first 14 weeks of growth at two temperatures (7-10°C and 12-15°C). Generally, the relative growth rates of the alpine species were lower than those of their lowland relatives. Whole-plant respiration rates were measured and leaf slices from each species were used for a detailed analysis of respiratory pathways. Major differences were found between genera, particularly in their alternative oxidase activity, but respiratory patterns (both whole-plant respiration rates and the relative rates of cytochrome and alternative pathways in leaf slices) were maintained within a given genus, independent of the environmental or geographical origin of each species from that genus. The lack of correlation between growth rates and respiration rates suggests that the alpine plants used their respiratory products less efficiently than did the lowland species.

Clonal integration of the stoloniferous herb Fragaria vesca from different altitudes in Southwest China

“…High-altitude alpine plants, coping in their places of origin with low temperature, strong winds, potentially high radiation levels and reduced partial pressures of CO 2 , were slow growing also in the common garden culture. They appear to be inherently slow-growing Atkin & Day 1990). This may be related to the low specific leaf area values of high-altitude plants (Woodward 1979a(Woodward , b, 1983Körner & Diemer 1987;Atkin et al 1996).…”

Proportional dry‐mass content as an underlying trait for the variation in relative growth rate among 22 Eurasian populations of Dactylis glomerata s.l.

“…In contrast, interspecific studies along altitudinal gradients have shown that species from high altitudes usually have lower RGRs and lower leaf expansion rates than lowland species (Woodward 1979;Körner & Woodward 1987;Atkin & Day 1990;Atkin et al 1996).…”

The hot and the cold: unravelling the variable response of plant respiration to temperature

“…proportional change in R with a 10 • C increase in temperature, typically around 2) (e.g. Atkin and Day 1990;Ryan 1991;Raich and Schlesinger 1992). As a result, most simulation models such as Biome-BGC, Century (Schimel et al 1997), PnET (Aber and Federer 1992) and several dynamic vegetation models (White et al 2000;Cramer et al 2001) assume that R responds to short-and long-term changes in temperature in a fixed, exponential manner (Q 10 = 2.0).…”