Understorey light quality affects leaf pigments and leaf phenology in different plant functional types.

ABSTRACT: Forest understorey plants receive most sunlight in springtime before canopy closure, and in autumn following leaf-fall. We hypothesised that plant species must adjust their phenological and photoprotective strategies in response to large changes in the spectral composition of the sunlight they receive. Here, we identified how plant species growing in northern deciduous and evergreen forest understoreys differ in their response to blue light and ultraviolet (UV) radiation according to their functional strategy. We installed filters in a forest understorey in southern Finland, to create the following treatments attenuating: UV radiation below 350 nm, all UV radiation (< 400 nm), all blue light and UV radiation (< 500 nm), and a transparent control. In eight species, representing different fu

SUBMITTER: Brelsford CC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9328371 | biostudies-literature | 2022 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature