Outdoor studies on the effects of solar UV-B on bryophytes:Overview and methodology
In this review all recent field studies on the effects of UV-B radiation on bryophytes are discussed. In most of the studies fluorescent UV-B tubes are used to expose the vegetation to enhanced levels of UV-B radiation to simulate stratospheric ozone depletion. Other studies use screens to filter th...
Published in: | Plant Ecology |
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Main Authors: | , , , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English |
Published: |
2006
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Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/11370/016bc4f1-3b61-495a-8a6d-19a680cad8f4 https://research.rug.nl/en/publications/016bc4f1-3b61-495a-8a6d-19a680cad8f4 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11258-005-9023-1 |
Summary: | In this review all recent field studies on the effects of UV-B radiation on bryophytes are discussed. In most of the studies fluorescent UV-B tubes are used to expose the vegetation to enhanced levels of UV-B radiation to simulate stratospheric ozone depletion. Other studies use screens to filter the UV-B part of the solar spectrum, thereby comparing ambient levels of UV-B with reduced UV-B levels, or analyse effects of natural variations in UV-B arising from stratospheric ozone depletion. Nearly all studies show that mosses are well adapted to ambient levels of UV-B radiation since UV-B hardly affects growth parameters. In contrast with outdoor studies on higher plants, soluble UV-B absorbing compounds in bryophytes are typically not induced by enhanced levels of UV-B radiation. A few studies have demonstrated that UV-B radiation can influence plant morphology, photosynthetic capacity, photosynthetic pigments or levels of DNA damage. However, there is only a limited number of outdoor studies presented in the literature. More additional, especially long-term, experiments are needed to provide better data for statistical meta-analyses. A mini UV-B supplementation system is described, especially designed to study effects of UV-B radiation at remote field locations under harsh conditions, and which is therefore suited to perform long-term studies in the Arctic or Antarctic. The first results are presented from a long-term UV-B supplementation experiment at Signy Island in the Maritime Antarctic. |
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