Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gbm5v Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:07:15.538Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects Of Varying Salinity On Leaf Ultrastructure Of Potamogeton Pectinatus L

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

A.D. Barnabas
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Durban-Westville, Durban4000, South Africa
P. Bunsi
Affiliation:
Department of Botany, University of Durban-Westville, Durban4000, South Africa
Y. Naidoo
Affiliation:
Electron Microscope Unit, University of Durban-Westville, Durban4000, South Africa
W.J. Przybylowicz
Affiliation:
Van de Graaff Group, National Accelerator Centre, P O Box 72, Faure7131, South Africa On leave from the Faculty of Physics & Nuclear Techniques, University of Mining & Metallurgy, Krakow, Poland
J. Mesjasz-Przybylowicz
Affiliation:
Van de Graaff Group, National Accelerator Centre, P O Box 72, Faure7131, South Africa
Get access

Extract

Potamogeton pectinatus is a submerged halophyte which occurs in waters of low salinity (5% to 10%). Its upper salinity tolerance has been reported to be 19%. Reasons why P.pectinatus is unable to tolerate salinities in excess of 19%is important to our understanding of its biology. In the present study, leaf ultrastructure of plants growing at low salinity was compared with plants growing at high salinity in order to assess the effects of different salinities on the ultrastructure. Attention was focussed on ultrastructural changes occurring in the leaf epidermis, the main photosynthetic tissue.

Plants were grown in seawater at two salinities : 5%(low salinity) and 20% (high salinity). Pieces of mature leaf blades from both treatments were harvested and prepared for Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) following standard procedures. The overall distribution and concentration of chlorine (CI) in the leaves was ascertained since this element is the most abundant anion in seawater and is important in considerations of salt tolerance in submerged halophytes.

Type
Ultrastructural Analysis Of Plant Cells
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1.Willaims, C.H. and Liptrot, M.R.M., Aquat. Bot., 9 (1980) 101.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2.Ward, C.J., Natal Parks, Fish and Game Preser. Board Pubi, 10 (1976) 1.Google Scholar
3.Barnabas, A.D., Przybylowicz, W.J. and Mesjasz-Przybylowicz, J., Proc. Microsc. Soc. South Afr., 27 (1997) 87.Google Scholar