Outdoor studies on the effects of solar UV-B on bryophytes:Overview and methodology

• Published in: Plant Ecology
• Main Authors: Boelen, P., de Boer, M.K., de Bakker, N., Rozema, Jelte
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: 2006
• Subjects: Antarctic; Arctic; bryophytes; Chorisodontium aciplyllum; cyclobutane Pyrimidine dimers; DNA damage; mosses; ozone depletion; Polytrichum strictum; Sanionia uncinata; terrestrial polar ecosystems; ultraviolet-B radiation; UV-B exposure systems; UVBR; Warnstorfia sarmentosa; STRATOSPHERIC OZONE DEPLETION; TIERRA-DEL-FUEGO; SUB-ARCTIC HEATH; SIMULATED CLIMATE-CHANGE; UNCINATA HEDW. LOESKE; ULTRAVIOLET-RADIATION; HIGHER-PLANTS; TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS; OXIDATIVE STRESS; GLOBAL CHANGE; Signy Island; Antarc*; Climate change; Tierra del Fuego
• 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

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.