Photosynthetic adaptive strategies in evergreen and semi-deciduous species of Mediterranean maquis during winter

摘要

In this chapter has been examined theudphotosynthetic and photochemical behaviour of young and mature leaves of differentudspecies of the Mediterranean maquis, grown during the winter, in response to lowudtemperatures. In particular our attention has been focused on the evergreen speciesudLaurus nobilis L., Phillyrea angustifolia L. and Quercus ilex L. and on the semi-deciduousudspecies Cistus incanus L. that are widespread in Southern Italy area. Our specific purposesudwere: 1) to focus on eco-physiological strategies adopted by the different species toudoptimize the carbon gain during winter and minimize the photoinhibitory damage risks;ud2) to compare the behaviour of young and mature leaves under low winter temperature inudorder to elucidate if the photoprotective mechanisms may be influenced by the leaf age.