Effects of light acclimation on shoot morphology, structure, and biomass allocation of two Taxus species in southwestern China

Abstract

Acclimation to changing light conditions plays a crucial role in determining the competitive capability of tree species. There is currently limited information about acclimation to natural light gradient and its effect on shoot structure and biomass in Taxus species. We examined the acclimation of the leaf and shoot axis morphology, structure and biomass allocation of Taxus yunnanensis and T. chinensis var. mairei under three different natural light environments, full daylight, 40-60% full daylight and <10% full daylight. The leaf biomass, nitrogen content per unit area, leaf carbon content per dry mass and leaf dry mass to fresh mass ratio increased with light in both species, demonstrating an enhanced investment of photosynthetic biomass and structural investment under high light. The number of leaves per unit shoot axis length and the leaf dry mass per unit shoot axis length increased with light in both species. However, the light increase did not result in the increase of the total shoot mass. T. yunnanensis produced larger leaves under low light and a higher shoot axis length per unit dry mass under high light, whereas the leaf size and biomass yield of T. chinensis var. mairei were not sensitive to light.