2017, Vol. 5, Issue 1, Part C

author(s)
Patrícia Chaves de Oliveira and Helton Luís Nina Lameira

abstract
The Amazon is a biome where in recent decades climate change has caused the increase in physiological plasticity of certain plant species. This plasticity characterized as resilience strategy of these species to environmental stress conditions such as drought stress. In this context, understanding the physiological adaptation mechanisms of plants that has ethnobotanical interest to Amazonian traditional communities is new and of great importance for the socio-economic sustainability. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze experimentally the physiological behavior of Annona muricata, Dipteryx odorata and Copaifera langsdorffii in response to water and light stress. The variables analyzed were photosynthesis (μmol m^-2 s^-1), stomatal conductance (mol m^-2 s^-1), transpiration rates (mmol m^-2 s^-1) and leaf temperature (°C) in leaf tissues subjected to four treatments. The equipment used for the measurement was an Infrared gas analyzer (IRGA). The water and light stress affected more Dipteryx odorata, while Copaifera langsdorffii and Annona muricata were more tolerant to water stress because they have drastically reduced the stomatal conductance and transpiration rates. In function of the ethnobotany´s importance that such species have to Amazonian populations, physiological responses found here, suggest different ways of cultivation and water´s supply.