Temporal variations in physiological responses of Kandelia obovata seedlings exposed to multiple heavy metals

Shanshan Cheng, Nora Fung Yee Tam, Ruili Li, Xiaoxue Shen, Zhiyuan Niu, Minwei Chai, Guo Yu Qiu

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

24 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

A study was conducted to quantify temporal variations in physiological responses of Kandelia obovata under multiple heavy metal stress. The results showed that plant growth was not significantly affected by multiple heavy metal stress during the 120-days experiment. At the start, levels of net photosynthetic rate (Pn), stomatal conductance (Gs) and transpiration rate (Tr) showed effects of “low-promotion, high-inhibition”, but Pn and Gs reduced with increasing heavy metal stress at the end. Temporary lipid oxidation was shown by high levels of malondialdehyde (MDA) under high heavy metal stress at the start but was unaffected at the end of the experiment. MDA negatively correlated with biomass and photosynthetic parameters and acted as a sensitive indicator. Proline also shared similar trend and indicated its temporary role in osmotic adjustment. Negative correlations between osmotic adjustment matter and photosynthetic parameters further confirmed the significant role of osmotic adjustment under heavy metal stress.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1089-1095
Number of pages7
JournalMarine Pollution Bulletin
Volume124
Issue number2
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 30 Nov 2017
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • K. obovata
  • MDA
  • Multiple heavy metals stress
  • Photosynthetic characteristics
  • Proline

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