Leaf Physiological and Morphological Responses to Shade in Grass-Stage Seedlings and Young Trees of Longleaf Pine

Longleaf pine has been classified as very shade intolerant but leaf physiological plasticity to light is not well understood, especially given longleaf pine’s persistent seedling grass stage. We examined leaf morphological and physiological responses to light in one-year-old grass-stage seedlings and young trees ranging in height from 4.6 m to 6.3 m to test the hypothesis that young longleaf pine would demonstrate leaf phenotypic plasticity to light environment. Seedlings were grown in a greenhouse under ambient levels of photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) or a 50% reduction in ambient PAR and whole branches of trees were shaded to provide a 50% reduction in ambient PAR. In seedlings, shading reduced leaf mass per unit area (LMA), the light compensation point, and leaf dark respiration (RD), and increased the ratio of light-saturated photosynthesis to RD and chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll expressed per unit leaf dry weight. In trees, shading reduced LMA, increased chlorophyll a, chlorophyll b and total chlorophyll on a leaf dry weight basis, and increased allocation of total foliar nitrogen to chlorophyll nitrogen. Changes in leaf morphological and physiological traits indicate a degree of shade tolerance that may have implications for even and uneven-aged management of longleaf pine.