Associations between shoot-level water relations and photosynthetic responses to water and light in 12 moss species.

ABSTRACT: In vascular plants, there is a clear coupling between traits related to water and traits related to carbon economics. For bryophytes this coupling has been little studied but is expected to be strong, because in these poikilohydric plants photosynthesis varies strongly with water availability. We hypothesized that there is a trade-off between water-holding and photosynthetic capacities for mosses, resulting in a limited spectrum of possible trait combinations. At one end of this spectrum, mosses would tend to stay wet and active for long periods but would have slow photosynthetic rates. At the other end, mosses would avoid external water and dry out quicker but would have high photosynthetic capacities. We determined the water relations (water-holding and -retention capacities), photosynth

SUBMITTER: Wang Z 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6012793 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature