Seasonal patterns and control of gas exchange in local populations of the Mediterranean evergreen shrub Pistacia lentiscus L.

We examined temporal and spatial variations in net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, intrinsic water-use efficiency, sub-stomatal CO2 concentration, apparent carboxylation efficiency and chlorophyll fluorescence in the Mediterranean shrub Pistacia lentiscus. The study was done at the extremes of a precipitation and temperature gradient on the coast and in the mountains of Mallorca, Spain, with gas exchange measurements at different times of the year, and combined measurements of gas exchange and chlorophyll fluorescence in a controlled experiment. The objectives were to relate annual variation in photosynthetic functions to environmentally induced constraints and to quantify to which extent local differences in climate can affect photosynthesis in shrub populations. In the mountain population, net photosynthesis peaked in spring and autumn, when water was abundant and temperature was moderately high. It was reduced in winter paralleling reduced carboxylation efficiency. Photosynthesis was at the annual minimum in summer at both sites due to drought-induced stomata closure combined with impaired Function of the Calvin cycle. The coastal population maintained high photosynthesis in mid winter but had a pronounced decline in spring, and the summer decline lasted longer than in the mountains. Integrated over the seasons, net photosynthesis was about 25 % lower in the coastal than in the mountain population, in spite of maintained high mid winter photosynthesis. Hence, the reduction at the coast was mainly due to early onset of drought in spring and a long period of summer drought, showing that local climatic differences can cause pronounced spatial differences in plant carbon balance. As a consequence, similar differences probably also occur as a function of year-to-year variability of precipitation patterns and temperatures. (C) 2001 Editions scientifiques et medicales Elsevier SAS.