Seasonal Plasticity

The light environment in deciduous understories in highly variable throughout the year: during the spring before the tree canopy is produced above, light is very high, but as the tree canopy flushes out, it becomes much darker in the understory. In the fall, light levels increase again after the tree canopy senesces. Since many understory shrubs produce leaves before the tree canopy is displayed and maintain them long into the fall, this poses a physiological challenge for them. Using 30 species of native and invasive understory shrubs in a common garden setting, this study assesses the importance of seasonal plasicity of leaf traits for understory shrubs. I measured leaf traits and photosynthetic parameters of each species during spring, summer, and fall, and assessed the adaptiveness of plasticity in each trait for carbon gain.