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Picea pungens exhibits greatest tolerance to short-time thermal stress compared to Picea abies, and Picea omorika

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Abstract

Species in the genus Picea are well-suited for afforestation on high altitudes and latitudes, but are fairly intolerant to high temperatures. In this study, Picea pungens, Picea abies, and Picea omorika were subjected to 45 °C, 40 °C, 35 °C, and ambient temperature (CK) for 6 h, and then allowed to recover for 28 d. Changes in phenotype, relative water content (RWC), and maximal photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm) of photosystem II (PS II) were observed to ascertain their thermal tolerance. Overall, all three species were negatively affected by exposure to 45 °C, but P. pungens exhibited full recovery, with the highest RWC, while P. omorika exhibited partial recovery, and P. abies showed minimal recovery. The PS II of all three species were damaged after 45 °C treatment, but that of P. pungens exhibited the most dramatic recovery, with Fv/Fm recovering from 0 to 0.26. In conclusion, P. pungens was found to exhibit the greatest thermal tolerance, followed by P. omorika and P. abies. Thus, thermal tolerance should be considered as a tool for species selection for future reforestation endeavor in the face of climate change that is expected to bring high summer temperature events.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Beijing Municipal Administration Center of Parks for funding the umbrella project “Spruce Species Introduction, High Temperature Resistance Evaluation and Efficient Breeding of New Excellent Germplasm” (ZX2021012) and National Forestry and Grassland Administration for funding the Forestry science and technology extension project: cultivation and breeding technology promotion demonstration of Picea pungens (Jing[2023]TG05). We also thank the Scientific Research Instrument Platform of the State Key Laboratory of Forest Genetics and Breeding. We appreciate the linguistic assistance provided by TopEdit (www.topeditsci.com) during the preparation of this manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Floriculture Engineering Technology Research Centre, Beijing Laboratory of Urban and Rural Ecological Environment, China National Botanical Garden (North Garden), Key Laboratory of National Forestry and Grassland Administration on Plant Ex situ Conservation, Beijing, 100093, China

    Fangqun Ouyang, Meng Sun, Xia Cui, Hui Zhang, Junyu Deng, Yu Wei & Ran He

  2. State Key Laboratory of Tree Genetics and Breeding, Research Institute of Forestry, Key Laboratory of Tree Breeding and Cultivation, Chinese Academy Forestry, State Forestry Administration, CAF, Beijing, 100, China

    Junhui Wang

  3. College of Forestry, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China

    Mulualem Tigabu

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  1. Fangqun Ouyang
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  2. Meng Sun
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  3. Xia Cui
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  4. Mulualem Tigabu
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  5. Hui Zhang
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  9. Ran He
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Contributions

Ouyang F wrote the main manuscript text and Sun M，Cui X，Deng J prepared the data. Wang J, Wei Y, He R prepared the experimental design.Mulualem Tigabu and Hui Zhang revised the manuscript text. All authors reviewed the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yu Wei or Ran He.

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Ouyang, F., Sun, M., Cui, X. et al. Picea pungens exhibits greatest tolerance to short-time thermal stress compared to Picea abies, and Picea omorika. New Forests (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11056-023-10002-0

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