Plant Ecology and Evolution 152(3): 426-436, doi: 10.5091/plecevo.2019.1525
Leaf physiological and structural plasticity of two Asplenium (Aspleniaceae) species coexisting in sun and shade conditions
expand article infoOlena Vasheka‡, Loretta Gratani§, Giacomo Puglielli§
‡ Department of Plant Biology, Educational and Scientific Centre “Institute of Biology and Medicine” Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv, 64/13, Volodymyrska Street, Kyiv, ISO 3166-2:UA-01601, Ukraine§ Department of Environmental Biology, Sapienza University of Rome, P.le A. Moro 5, Rome, ISO 3166-2:IT-00185, Italy

Corresponding author: Olena Vasheka ( olena_vasheka@knu.ua )

© Loretta Gratani, Olena Vasheka, Giacomo Puglielli.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation: Vasheka O, Gratani L, Puglielli G (2019) Leaf physiological and structural plasticity of two Asplenium (Aspleniaceae) species coexisting in sun and shade conditions. Plant Ecology and Evolution 152(3): 426-436. https://doi.org/10.5091/plecevo.2019.1525
Open Access
Abstract

Background and aims – Relatively few studies have addressed the sun-shade response of fern species. Moreover, there is no information on species-specific plasticity patterns of such response, their relationship with species ecological requirements and the costs of such plasticity. The present study aims at filling these gaps by analysing the sun-shade plastic response of two Asplenium species that differ in their ecological requirements.

Methods – We measured 27 leaf morphological, anatomical and physiological parameters using standard methods for A. ceterach and A. trichomanes in the field. The parameters were combined through Principal Component Analysis in order to highlight an integrated sun-shade response across species. Linear regression analysis was carried out to highlight the relationship between the calculated species plasticity patterns and the structural control on photosynthetic process.

Key results – A significant degree of phenotypic plasticity was found for both species. Moreover, sun and shade leaves shared a common slope for the morpho-functional relationships reflecting no additional costs in terms of carbon assimilation. Even if the plastic responses of the two species scaled positively (R2 = 0.68, P = 4.667e‒07), A. trichomanes was characterized by a slightly higher anatomical plasticity (plasticity index = 0.19), while A. ceterach showed a higher physiological plasticity (0.60).

Conclusion – A remarkable acclimation capacity for the two Asplenium species in response to different light conditions was highlighted. Nevertheless, A. ceterach seems to be more suited to cope with full sunlight conditions as compared to A. trichomanes, according to species ecological requirements.

Keywords
acclimation capability, ferns, leaf anatomy, leaf mass per area, photosynthesis, plasticity

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