A fíeld experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of Cu and Pb on photosynthesis and growth characteristics of oats. The plants grown on the site with elevated levels of Cu-Pb were reduced in height and biomass, compared to control plants, and appeared chlorotic while the accumulations of both Cu and Pb in the above-ground parts were in the range considered to be phytotoxic. Cu and Pb led to a pronounced reduction (47 %) of chlorophyll (Chl) (a + b) content, accompanied by proportional changes in ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBPCO) activity. Hence Cu and Pb effects did not result in the destruction of the photosynthetic apparatus but in its coordinated reduction. Growth at the heavy metal contaminated site resulted in a decreased (7 %) quantum yield of photochemistry in photosystem 2 (PS2), as given by the ratio Fy/Fn, measured in dark adapted leaves in the field. The half-rise time (ti/2) from the initial (Fq) to maximal (F^) Chl fluorescence was increased, suggesting that the amount of active pigments associated with the photochemical apparatus decreased and that the functional Chl antennae size of the photosynthetic apparatus was smaller compared to the control plants. Although Cu and Pb affected the photosynthetic apparatus in multiple ways, the prevailing effect was that on RuBPCO activity, which in tum must háve limited the overall photosynthetic activity.
Fifty-day old plants of Capsicum anmmm L, with two developed leaves were placed into controlled environment chambers at atmospheric (350 cm^ m'^, ACO2) and elevated (700 cm^ m-^, ECO2) CO2 concentrations under different nitrogen and water supply. Plant response to ECO2 and the modulating effect of the availability of nitrogen and water were evaluated. CO2 effects were significant only after 40 d of treatment, An increase in plant growth and yield was found in ECO2 plants only under a good supply of both water (HW) and nitrogen (HN). Chlorophyll concentration responded only to N supply. Root/shoot ratio was higher under ECO2 only under low N (LN) and low water (LW) supply. Leaf area and specific leaf area decreased under ECO2. Flowering and fructification took plače earlier in ECO2 under FIN and FIW. Thus, all CO2 effects were modulated by the N and water supply and the duration of exposure.
Acclimation to irradiance was investigated in seedlings of Japanese beech {Fagus crenata Bl.) grown under one of five irradiance regimes for three years. Inadiance (/) regimes covered the range of environmental conditions which this species normally would experience in Japanese beech forests: exposed [22.1 mol(quantum) m‘2 d'*, matching mean daily irradiance of exposed canopies], partially shaded [8.8, 2.7 and 1.5 mol(quantum) d'*, respectively, comparable to various midcanopies], and deeply shaded [0.5 mol(quantum) nu^ d"', equivalent to forest floor], There were consistent strong relationships between irradiance, growth performance and net photosynthetic rate (P^) for this species. Greater growth performance and were achieved as / increased, with aboveground height growth increasing as rapidly as basal diameter growth. This tiend was also observed in the leaf specific mass and leaf nitrogen content. Exposed plants had higher saturation I for (> 1400 |amol m'^ s‘*) than partially shaded plants (1180, 1100 and 753 pmol m‘2 s'', respectively). Higher leaf conductance, leaf specific mass and leaf nitrogen content correlated positively with higher Nevertheless, the beech seedlings adapted to deep shade by producing more total chlorophyll and requiring lower compensation / (Qq) at lower growth irradiances. Seedlings of Japanese beech were very tolerant to shade but capable of acclimating to strong I. Thus / is an important factor influencing growth and photosynthetic capacity of Japanese beech.
The effects of intra- and interspecific competition on growth, net photosynthetic rate (/^n), intemal CO2 concentration (cj), leaf conductance to CO2 (gi), and xylem leaf water potentials Q¥) were investigated among well-watered seedlings of the old-field species Abutilon theophrasíi. Ambrosia tri/ida, and Helianíhus annuus. In all comparisons, *F values of the target plants were unaffected by the presence of neighbors. On the other hand, revealed inhibitory effects of neighbors on A. theophrasíi and H. annuus. The above- and belowground biomass of all species was reduced in the presence of neighbors. Hence both inter- and intraspecific competition among seedlings may be important in influencing community stiucture in old-field communities.
Alfalfa was grown in fíeld plots at the current CO2 concentratíon (350 pmol mol"' = C350) and at 350 pmol mol"' above the current concentratíon (= c^qq). Alfalfa and weed growth, and canopy water vapor (£) and carbon dioxide exchange (f) were determined for the first year. Alfalfa yield summed for the three harvests in the first year was greater for the C700 treatment in two of the years studied, but significantly less in a third year. Weed growth was unaffected. Survival of alfalfa plants was greater at Cypo for years in which there was substantíal mortality, even when yield was not increased by the C700 treatment. In špite of a persistent reduction in leaf conductance to water vapor (gj), total canopy conductance (g^) to water vapor did not differ between CO2 treatments when averaged over years, because of compensating changes in canopy leaf area. CO2 efílux (F) at night per unit of ground area was consistently less in the cjqq treatment, even when daytime CO2 uptake was higher. Hence the periodic harvesting of alfalfa crops does not necessarily allow elevated CO2 to cause persistent growth stimulatíon nor reduced water use.
A new nematode species, Guyanema longispiculum sp. n. is described from the abdominal cavity of the freshwater armoured catfish, Loricariichthys hrunneus (Hancock), from two localities in western Venezuela. It differs from all hitherto known members of the genus in having unusually long spicules (0.480-0.609 mm) and from individual species also by other morphological and biometrical features. It is characterized by the presence of eight cephalic papillae arranged in two circlets, localization of deirids anterior to the nerve ring, a conical, undivided tip of the tail in both sexes, four pairs of preanal and six pairs of postanal papillae in the male, and a markedly elevated vulva in the female. A key to species of Guyanema is presented.