Photosynthetic apparatus in the needles of pine and spruce grown in areas of industrial pollution under different microclimatic conditions
- Ural Academy of Forestry, Ekaterinburg (Russian Federation)
Photosynthetic performance was investigated in the needles of common pine (Pinus silvestris L.) and Siberian spruce (Picea obovata L.) grown in natural habitats in industrially polluted areas, and the characteristics of the primary photosynthetic processes were presented for trees grown under contrasting microclimatic conditions. The photosynthetic activity was characterized by measuring chlorophyll a and b content, the induction curves of delayed fluorescence (DF), and the temperature dependencies of steady-state delayed fluorescence intensity and the original level (F{sub 0}) of chlorophyll fluorescence. The chlorophyll a and b content was reduced in the needles sampled from polluted areas; the relative decrease in chlorophyll, which was associated with light-harvesting complex and with PS I and PS II chlorophyll-protein complexes, was dependent on needle age and growth conditions. The pigment composition of the photosynthetic apparatus was less sensitive to pollution in pine than in spruce. On F{sub 0} thermograms, the pollution reduced the peak occurring at 53{degrees} to 55{degrees}C in pine and spruce needles and increased the high-temperature peak (at a temperature above 70{degrees}C) in the needles of pine grown in an open area. In pine and spruce needles sampled in the late summer from trees grown in the polluted area, the DF induction curves assumed a multipeak shape characteristic of the later growth period. Therefore, the damage to the pigment complex of needles and primary photosynthetic processes, along with the shortening of the active growth period, resulted in decreasing the productivity of the tree stands exposed to industrial pollution.
- OSTI ID:
- 28933
- Journal Information:
- Russian Journal of Plant Physiology, Vol. 42, Issue 1; Other Information: PBD: Jan-Feb 1995; TN: Translated from Fiziologiya Rastenii; 42: No. 1, 107-113(1995)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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