Principles underlying plant trait diversity

2016 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26711025
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (A)
• Allocation Type: Partial Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Ecology/Environment
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: Onoda Yusuke 京都大学, (連合)農学研究科(研究院), 助教 (70578864)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-04-01 – 2017-03-31
• Keywords: 多様性 / 光合成 / 植物高 / トレードオフ / 光競争 / 進化

Outline of Final Research Achievements

The aim of this project was to understand the physiological and structural mechanisms underlying the variation of photosynthetic capacity and plant height.
Regarding the variation of photosynthetic capacity, we investigated the mechanisms underlying the leaf economics spectrum (tradeoff between photosynthetic efficiency and leaf longevity). We found long-lived leaves had high fraction of leaf mass in cell walls, which was accompanied by more allocation of leaf nitrogen to cell walls rather than to the photosynthetic proteins. Furthermore long-lived leaves had thicker cell wall of mesophyll tissues, which reduced CO2 conductance.
Regarding plant height, we analyzed growth strategy of individual trees in relation to light competition in natural matured forests. Regardless of the site, under one-sided light competition, taller trees were more efficient in term of light interception but less efficient in term of light use.

Free Research Field

植物生態