Shade avoidance and reproductive strategies of an early successional species Penthorum chinense in relation to shade treatments

Abstract

Shade avoidance is expected to be favoured under moderate light. However, in previous studies, shade avoidance was highest in the deepest shade, despite the fact that the plants incur the costs of shade avoidance without the benefits of being exposed to increased light.• We performed shading experiments under different light intensities to understand: (i) how shade avoidance traits of Penthorum chinense could peak in moderate light, and (ii) if there was a trade-off between plant height and allocation of seeds along the light gradients.• Penthorum chinense increased shade avoidance traits with the decrease in light amount, as found in previously studied species. There was a trade-off between height and production of more seeds. The reproductive strategy of P. chinense was to increase seed mass fraction under low light more than under moderate light. This species might be able to expand established populations by both rhizomes and seeds under low light environments.

Effects of light and nutrient on flower formation and vegetative growth of Viola collina

“…Viola collina under different light conditions displayed plasticity in reproductive growth, especially in the production of flowers. Unlike many plant species which produce only one type of flower, V. collina produce two different (Schemske 1978;Waller 1979), conditions of high light availability generally promote production of chasmogamous flowers (Schemske 1978;Yang and Kim 2019;Yang and Kim 2020). Cleistogamous flowers which are less costly to produce would appear under low light availability conditions.…”

Apple tree adaptation to shade in agroforestry: an architectural approach

“…Photosynthetic rate is reduced in shade (Evans and Poorter, 2001), leaving less carbohydrates for the different sinks. Carbon allocation has been shown to be modified in shade-avoidant species (i.e., root to shoot ratio) (Gommers et al, 2013;Yang and Kim, 2019), and apple trees in shade can prioritize other sinks such as shoots and roots with primary growth over areas undergoing secondary growth. Light intensity affected the relative growth rate of bourse shoots, but not of vegetative shoots.…”