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TECHNICAL REPORTS

Plant and Environment Interactions

Contrasting Physiological Responses of Dwarf Sea-Lavender and Marguerite to Simulated Sea Aerosol Deposition

^a Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CSIC), P.O. Box 4195, E-30080 Murcia, Spain and Unidad Asociada al CSIC de Horticultura Sostenible en Zonas Aridas (UPCT-CEBAS)
^b Centro de Edafología y Biología Aplicada del Segura (CSIC), P.O. Box 4195, E-30080 Murcia, Spain and Instituto Nacional de Ciencias Agrícolas (INCA), Gaveta Postal 1, 32700 San José de Las Lajas, La Habana, Cuba

^* Corresponding author (quechu{at}cebas.csic.es).

Received for publication November 6, 2002. Plants of two wild native species from littoral areas, marguerite [Argyranthemum coronopifolium (Willd.) C.J. Humphries] and dwarf sea-lavender [Limonium pectinatum (Aiton) O. Kuntze], grown in an unheated plastic greenhouse, were sprayed 2 to 3 min per day over a 7-d period with different aqueous solutions containing (i) an anionic surfactant (S1); (ii) a solution simulating the composition of sea aerosol (S2); (iii) a solution simulating sea aerosol with anionic surfactant (S3), and (iv) deionized water alone (control). The plant resistance to sea aerosol and the ability to recover from treatments were studied. By the end of the spraying period, marguerite showed a significant reduction in growth compared with control. However, most of the growth parameters were significantly unaffected in dwarf sea-lavender when plants were treated with sea aerosol containing surfactant. Measurements of water relations variables in marguerite showed a slight decrease in leaf turgor potential after spraying with sea aerosol containing surfactant. The surfactant enhanced the foliar absorption of salt in marguerite plants, inducing reductions in leaf stomatal conductance and causing such damage in the photosynthetic apparatus that the level of net photosynthesis decreased and had not recovered by the end of the experiment. The treatments had no effect on leaf stomatal conductance and photosynthesis rate in dwarf sea-lavender plants. The response of the species studied to sea aerosol was related to the degree of salinity tolerance. Although both species are wild native plants from littoral areas, marguerite is not salt tolerant and was the most sensitive to the sea aerosol treatments, while dwarf sea-lavender, a halophyte species, was more efficient at decreasing the toxic salt content of the tissues as its growth and ornamental characteristics were not affected.

Abbreviations: g_l, leaf stomatal conductance • P_n, photosynthetic rate • RWC, relative water content • _l, leaf water potential • _p, leaf turgor potential • _s, leaf osmotic potential • 100%, leaf osmotic potential at full turgor

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This Issue in Journal of Environmental Quality

JEQ 2003 32: 1931-1938. [Full Text]