TY - JOUR
T1 - A test of the photoprotection hypothesis for the evolution of autumn colours
T2 - Chlorophyll resorption, not anthocyanin production, is correlated with nitrogen translocation
AU - Pena-Novas, Ines
AU - Archetti, Marco
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2021 European Society for Evolutionary Biology
PY - 2021/9
Y1 - 2021/9
N2 - A prominent hypothesis for the adaptive value of anthocyanin production in the autumn leaves of trees and shrubs is that anthocyanins protect leaves from photooxidative stress at low temperatures, allowing a better resorption of nutrients—in particular, nitrogen—before leaf fall. While there is evidence that anthocyanins enable photoprotection, it is not clear whether this translates to improved nitrogen translocation and how this can explain inter-specific variation in autumn colours. A recent comparative analysis showed no correlation between temperature and anthocyanin production across species but did not analyse nitrogen content and nitrogen resorption efficiency. Here, we provide this comparison by analysing the nitrogen content of mature and senescent leaves and their autumn colours in 55 species of trees. We find no correlation between the presence of anthocyanins and the efficiency of nitrogen resorption. We find, instead, that nitrogen resorption is more efficient in species with yellow autumn colours, pointing to chlorophyll resorption, rather than anthocyanin synthesis, as the main determinant of nitrogen translocation efficiency. Hence, our results do not corroborate the photoprotection hypothesis for the evolution of autumn colours.
AB - A prominent hypothesis for the adaptive value of anthocyanin production in the autumn leaves of trees and shrubs is that anthocyanins protect leaves from photooxidative stress at low temperatures, allowing a better resorption of nutrients—in particular, nitrogen—before leaf fall. While there is evidence that anthocyanins enable photoprotection, it is not clear whether this translates to improved nitrogen translocation and how this can explain inter-specific variation in autumn colours. A recent comparative analysis showed no correlation between temperature and anthocyanin production across species but did not analyse nitrogen content and nitrogen resorption efficiency. Here, we provide this comparison by analysing the nitrogen content of mature and senescent leaves and their autumn colours in 55 species of trees. We find no correlation between the presence of anthocyanins and the efficiency of nitrogen resorption. We find, instead, that nitrogen resorption is more efficient in species with yellow autumn colours, pointing to chlorophyll resorption, rather than anthocyanin synthesis, as the main determinant of nitrogen translocation efficiency. Hence, our results do not corroborate the photoprotection hypothesis for the evolution of autumn colours.
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U2 - 10.1111/jeb.13903
DO - 10.1111/jeb.13903
M3 - Article
C2 - 34265121
AN - SCOPUS:85111131105
VL - 34
SP - 1423
EP - 1431
JO - Journal of Evolutionary Biology
JF - Journal of Evolutionary Biology
SN - 1010-061X
IS - 9
ER -