Abstract
Mediterranean basin shrublands are biodiversity hotspots that are currently at risk due to concurrent global change drivers. Here, we investigated the simultaneous effects of a prolonged drought period and increased atmospheric nitrogen (N) deposition on photosynthetic and photoprotective pigments in rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus Spenn.), a widespread iconic Mediterranean woody species, in central Spain. We examined the concentrations and degree of coordination (coupling) of eight photosynthetic and photoprotective pigments under four N addition levels (0, 10, 20, and 50 kg N ha-1 year-1), sampled once immediately after an extended natural summer drought event and again after a two-month recovery period during which plants received ambient precipitation. Our results showed that prolonged summer drought had a pronounced impact, leading to a reduction in chlorophyll, lutein, neoxanthin, and β-carotene concentrations, while increasing the concentrations of photoprotective pigments associated with the xanthophyll cycle, particularly antheraxanthin and zeaxanthin. Drought also caused a disorganisation (decoupling) of pigments, indicating poor metabolic homeostasis under extreme climatic conditions. On the other hand, recovery from drought resulted in increased coordination (coupling). The effects of N addition were minor and mostly associated with greater β-carotene concentrations after drought that we interpreted as indicative of greater oxidative stress. Our findings suggest that extreme drought events will likely have greater effects on pigment metabolism in Mediterranean woody plants than increased N deposition, although interactions between the two global change drivers could amplify physiological disruptions. Our results are among the first to show the metabolic decoupling of plants to concurrent global change drivers, paving the way for new studies focusing on understanding the coordination of physiological responses under stress rather than solely focusing on physiological responses per se.
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Claims 5
Claim · model-written summary
Drought reduced four photosynthetic pigment concentrations.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinus
Salvia rosmarinust0 - Treatment
- prolonged summer droughte0
- Outcome
- chlorophyll, lutein, neoxanthin, and β-carotene concentrationse0
- Direction
- reductione0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“prolonged summer drought had a pronounced impact, leading to a reduction in chlorophyll, lutein, neoxanthin, and β-carotene concentrations”
t0“Salvia rosmarinus”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought increased xanthophyll-cycle pigment concentrations.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinust0
- Treatment
- droughtt0
- Outcome
- concentrations of photoprotective pigmentse0
- Direction
- increasinge0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“increasing the concentrations of photoprotective pigments associated with the xanthophyll cycle, particularly antheraxanthin and zeaxanthin”
t0“Salvia rosmarinus under drought”
Claim · model-written summary
Drought decoupled pigment coordination.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinust0
- Treatment
- Droughte0
- Outcome
- disorganisation (decoupling) of pigmentse0
Not reportedComparatorDirection
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Drought also caused a disorganisation (decoupling) of pigments”
t0“Salvia rosmarinus”
Claim · model-written summary
Recovery from drought increased pigment coordination.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinust0
- Treatment
- recovery from droughte0
- Outcome
- coordination (coupling)e0
- Direction
- increasede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“recovery from drought resulted in increased coordination (coupling)”
t0“Salvia rosmarinus”
Claim · model-written summary
Nitrogen addition was associated with greater beta-carotene after drought.
- Taxon
- Salvia rosmarinusSalvia rosmarinust0
- Treatment
- N additione0
- Outcome
- β-carotene concentrationse0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Qualifier
- after droughte0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“The effects of N addition were minor and mostly associated with greater β-carotene concentrations after drought”
t0“Salvia rosmarinus”
The same questions in other papers
drought · physiology: pigments · Salvia rosmarinus (rosemary)Positive and negative results
2 papers in the same direction as this paper · 1 in the opposite direction
- negative
- positive
- positive
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.