Seasonal phenology, shade reliance, and ecophysiology of wild Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum in Sonoran Desert
2022
Jiménez-Leyva, Alberto | Gutiérrez, Aldo | Ojeda-Contreras, Ángel Javier | Vargas, Georgina | Esqueda, Martín | Orozco-Avitia, Jesús-Antonio
The phenological responses of Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum (Cag) plants were documented, tracking the seasonal climatic trend in the Sonoran Desert. Plants exhibited a relatively fast seasonal phenological transition in synchrony with fast shifts in solar radiation, air temperatures, relative humidity, and rainfalls. Plants developed under significant levels of shade throughout their phenological stages; however, the increase of sunlight penetration and rising air temperatures during the mid-winter period suggests an early photonic/thermal stimulation effect, which could drive the transition between dormancy and budburst. Early buds outbreak can occur in some individuals. First leaves development suggests a strategic phenological/ecophysiological transitional interruption can occur to cope with drought conditions during the spring period. During rainy summer-autumn plants fully grew either vegetative only or vegetative/reproductively. The CO₂ assimilation curves in response to light suggest that plants are photosynthetically adapted to photonic flux in the low-intermediate range. Leave's diurnal gas exchange responded differentially under contrasting levels of sunlight, temperatures, and vapor pressure deficit, depending on the plant's phenological stage. Ecosystem-level dataset suggests that duration of air temperature thresholds and significant variation in precipitation peaks during seasons transition could drive subtle timeline shifts between succession/extension of phenological stages and consequently in the forest mass productivity.
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