1. Introduction
The native range of
Serianthes nelsonii Merr. is restricted to the Mariana Islands of Rota and Guam. This attractive legume tree is currently listed as endangered under the United States Endangered Species Act (ESA) [
1] and critically endangered under the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List of Threatened Species [
2]. A national species recovery plan was published in 1994, which called for more research to determine the threats to species recovery [
3].
Small-scale, short-term in situ studies have been conducted in Guam in attempts to understand regeneration and recruitment limitations. Hundreds of seedlings emerged each year beneath a single
S. nelsonii tree, indicating considerable regeneration potential; however, most of them died in less than one month, illuminating recruitment failure as one of the threats to species recovery [
4,
5]. In addition to in situ seedling mortality, decades of attempts to grow
S. nelsonii nursery transplants have ended in post-transplant mortality [
6]. Unfortunately, no research has been conducted to identify the factors that cause the death of nursery plants shortly after transplantation to forest habitats. Clearly, more adaptive management research is needed to determine which factors may be more effectively managed to improve young
S. nelsonii plant survival and growth.
Light availability is one of the most important environmental factors determining plant growth and longevity. A few studies concerning the influence of light on plant behavior have been published. Under managed nursery conditions, light was not needed for
S. nelsonii seed germination [
7]. Moreover, full sunlight reduced seedling emergence and increased seedling mortality compared to shade [
8]. Moreover, 75% shade improved long-term seedling growth compared with full sunlight [
8]. Under in situ conditions, supplemental light supplied by solar-powered Light-Emitting Diode lamps during midday increased
S. nelsonii seedling lifespan 70% [
9], indicating limited available incident light may be one of the influential factors causing recruitment failures.
Evaluation of methods for the continuation of light management research to inform
S. nelsonii conservation indicates that solar-powered lamp installation is too costly to upscale as a protocol for reducing the mortality of newly emerged in situ seedlings or out-planted nursery plants. The possibility of positioning reflective materials around the plants to passively increase available light has been pioneered in some production systems within horticulture and agronomy industries, which historically employed black plastic mulching. Several studies have evaluated alternative plastic mulch colors as a means of managing light to influence plant growth and behavior [
10,
11,
12,
13]. For example, silver or aluminum mulch altered microclimate and reduced insect herbivory to improve the performance of some vegetable crops [
14]. Application of this approach, whereby below-plant reflective surfaces increase light availability to
Serianthes seedlings, may reduce mortality and increase growth.
The objective of the present study was to determine if under-plant mirrors may improve
Serianthes seedling survival and growth under shaded conditions.
Serianthes grandiflora (Benth.) F. Müller and
Serianthes kanehirae Fosberg have been used in previous adaptive management studies as surrogates for
S. nelsonii [
6], as these other species are not endangered. All three species were included in this study. The new knowledge may reveal a protocol for passively increasing available light to
Serianthes seedlings that can be upscaled in an affordable manner.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Guam Nursery Studies
Seeds of three
Serianthes species were scarified, imbibed in municipal water for 1 h, and sown in 60:40 peat–perlite medium on 12 April 2015. The conservation nursery was located at the University of Guam. The open-air nursery was covered with commercial shade cloth. The
S. nelsonii seeds were collected in northern Guam, the
S. kanehirae seeds were collected in Yap, Federated States of Micronesia, and the
S. grandiflora seeds were collected in Bohol, Philippines. The 2.6 L containers were placed under several layers of shade cloth such that the midday photon flux density (PFD) was about 63–68 µmol·m
−2·s
−1 (Skye SKP200 quantum sensor, Skye Instruments, Llandrindod Wells, Powys, UK) on cloudless days. This level of shade was selected to fall within the range of PFD underneath the only surviving mature
S. nelsonii tree in Guam [
9].
Emerging seedlings were allowed to finish the initial growth stage of hypocotyl extension, to exhibit two cotyledons, to undergo simultaneous epicotyl extension, and to reveal a pair of opposite pinnately compound leaves (described in [
15]). Following this emergence process, a short quiescence period occurred, during which the seedlings were 4.5–5.5 cm in height. These plants were sorted so the study could begin with 16 healthy, robust seedlings for each species.
The two treatments consisted of below-plant mirrors versus below-plant mulch, with eight replications per treatment per species. A mosaic tile comprising hexagonal mirrors was placed beneath each of the 48 seedlings. Each mirror was 7.5 cm in diameter. The commercial mosaic wall tile consisted of six mirrors surrounding a central mirror. The central mirror was removed to create a hole through which each seedling was allowed to grow. Each seedling, therefore, received reflected ambient light from 360° around the plant. For the 24 plants under the control treatment for each species, plant litter was placed on top of the mirrors to block the mirror surfaces from all incoming light. The litter was collected from the forest floor in the habitat containing Guam’s sole surviving mature S. nelsonii tree at that time. This ensured the leaf litter was characteristic of in situ habitat.
These three species exhibit differences in nursery growth rates [
15] and were, therefore, arranged in individual experiments for each species. The plants were arranged in completely randomized design layouts, with plants on a 50 cm grid in a conservation nursery located on the University of Guam campus. Irrigation was applied by hand through the central hole of each tile mosaic, with the frequency determined according to previous methods [
15], using tensiometers mounted in one representative container for each species and treatment. The frequency was every 13–18 days initially and remained so for the duration of the study of the mulch treatment plants. The frequency was weekly for the mirror plants at the end of the study due to greater transpiration losses. Fertilization occurred every two weeks and consisted of 500 mL per plant of a stock solution (2.6 mL·L
−1 Vigoro (10N-4.3P-8.3K + micronutrients; Spectrum Group, St. Louis, MO, USA). Arthropod herbivore protection was provided by shade cloth materials, which excluded insect movement to the experimental plants. The plant material was maintained until 28 June 2015, after 11 weeks of growth, when the
S. kanehirae plants receiving the mirror treatment reached 30 cm in height. Many of the remaining mulched plants were unhealthy, so the entire study was terminated on this date.
The number of surviving seedlings was recorded, and then stem height, basal stem diameter, and leaf number were measured for each surviving seedling. The S. nelsonii data did not conform to parametric prerequisites, so the data were subjected to the Mann–Whitney U test. The S. grandiflora and S. kanehirae data were subjected to a paired t-test. Statistical tests were conducted with SAS (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA) and figures were created with Excel Version 2407 software.
2.2. Philippine Forest Study
A closed-canopy forest in Barangay Sapang Bato, Angeles City, Philippines was used to determine the influence of below-plant mirrors on understory
S. grandiflora seedling survival and growth. Viable seeds were not available for the other two species. This species has been used in previous studies as a surrogate for the other species [
6]. The canopy cover was primarily
Pterocarpus indicus Willd., and secondary trees were
Swietenia macrophylla King,
Pouteria campechiana (Kunth) Baehni, and
Leucaena leucocephala (Lam.) de Wit. The PFD at the forest floor was 5–10% of the incident PFD.
Serianthes grandiflora seeds were scarified, imbibed for 1 hr, then germinated in wet paper towels, as previously described [
7]. Germinated seeds with radicles at least 2 mm in length were transferred to the forest on 20 December 2023 and planted at a depth of 0.5 cm. The mulch layer was minimal in some of the experimental microsites, so a standard mulch depth of 2 cm was constructed at each plant’s location by removing all competing seedlings from a radius of about 1 m then maintaining the mulch layer manually over this area.
The experimental layout was a randomized complete block with
n = 4 and each block consisting of eight seedlings, for a total of 32 plants. The plants were 2 m or more apart and 3 m or more away from the bole of the canopy trees. The four plants which received the mirror treatments within each block were randomly selected, and one mosaic wall tile mirror (described in
Section 2.1) was placed on top of the mulch, surrounding the emerging seedling with six reflective mirrors. The same tile mosaic was placed around each of the control seedlings, and then the mulch layer was placed on top of the tile to block incoming light from the mirrors. This procedure ensured the hydrology of each seedling in the study was homogeneous.
Irrigation of 1 L per plant per week was supplied by hand during periods of limited rainfall. Fertilization occurred every two weeks and consisted of 500 mL per plant of a stock solution (2.1 mL·L−1 Miracle-Gro (8N-3.5P-13.3K + micronutrients; Scotts, Marysville, OH, USA). Herbivory was managed by scouting and there were no signs of herbivory for the duration of the study. The quantity of reflected light coming from beneath each plant was measured on numerous clear days and cloudy days. At midday, the PFD experienced by the abaxial surfaces of seedling leaves ranged from 55% to 74% of the ambient PFD for the mirror treatment and ranged from 2% to 3% for the mulch treatment.
The date of abscission of each cotyledon was determined by daily monitoring until all 64 cotyledons had abscised. The date of mortality was recorded for each seedling that died during the study. At least one seedling per treatment per block remained alive at the end of the study. The height, basal stem diameter, and leaf number of the surviving seedlings were measured on 21 June 2024, following 26 weeks of growth. For each treatment–block combination, the percentage survival was calculated, and then mean cotyledon longevity, seedling longevity, and plant size traits were determined. A mean seedling longevity of 26 weeks was assigned to each surviving seedling. The data were subjected to a paired t-test, with n = 4 for each response variable.
4. Discussion
Adaptive management is a core component of endangered species recovery efforts. The national recovery plan for
S. nelsonii acknowledged this fact and outlined research to generate new knowledge regarding the core components of managing this endangered tree species [
3]. Several recent nursery and in situ studies revealed that management of light availability is of importance when it comes to understanding the ecology and horticulture of the species, with germination, seedlings, and saplings exhibiting significant responses to light manipulations (reviewed in [
6]). I have added to this literature on light management, demonstrating that passively engineering sunlight by reflecting ambient light toward seedlings with below-plant mirrors can be exploited to improve survival and growth.
The improved plant performance due to below-plant reflection of incoming light may be a consequence of the direct increase in the PFD under extremely limited available light. Indeed, under the Philippine forest-site conditions, the upward light from the mulch treatment was less than 3% of the ambient incident PFD, but upward light from the mirror treatment was up to 74% of the ambient incident PFD. Light response curves for all plant species reveal a linear increase in photosynthesis for each unit increase in light at the lowest end of the response curve [
16]. The quantum efficiency of carbon dioxide assimilation is defined by the initial slope of this light response curve where light is limited, and is a measure of the increase in photosynthetic performance for each increased mole of photons [
17,
18]. Any incremental increase in available light within this light-limiting part of the response curve has the potential to greatly increase availability of photosynthates for growth and metabolism.
A second explanation for the improved survival and growth when mirrors were placed beneath the plants is the addition of abaxial illumination of the laminae to augment adaxial illumination. This facet of resource availability is independent of the addition of more light energy per se. Supplemental lighting from beneath the leaf surfaces can increase plant performance in a range of crops to a greater degree than adding the same amount of light to the adaxial surfaces [
19,
20,
21,
22,
23].
In addition to an increase in available light per se and a directional change in the incoming energy resource, below-plant reflective surfaces may also greatly influence the spectral quality of available light in a manner that alters photomorphogenesis [
10,
11]. Some photomorphogenesis traits that spectral quality may influence are relative allometric relations among organs or the direction of organ growth. Indeed, the availability of red light in relation to far-red light and the amount of incident ultraviolet light are two light-quality factors that can exert a strong influence on how plants respond to available light. The limited root system of container-grown
S. nelsonii transplants is one of the proposed reasons for the post-transplant mortality that has plagued Guam’s
S. nelsonii recovery efforts for decades [
6]. Since root growth relative to stem growth is one of the plant responses that light quality controls, the use of various colors of reflective surfaces beneath transplanted
S. nelsonii saplings to improve root growth relative to stem growth offers an exciting prospect for improved conservation of the imperiled species.
Previous
Serianthes studies that are directly comparable are few in number, but the results herein differ from previous reports in several respects. The survival percentage reported here was greater than the survival percentage for in situ plants receiving supplemental lighting [
9]. This may have resulted from stressors defined by Janzen-Connell as in situ issues [
24], as the experimental sites in the present study were not in close proximity to pre-existing
Serianthes trees and were at least 2 m apart in the experimental layout. This hypothesis indicates that seedlings growing in close proximity to the parent tree and in competition with high-density siblings may be at a disadvantage compared to seedlings growing in an environment that is distant to any conspecifics. For example, the application of fungicides to newly emerged in situ
S. nelsonii seedlings increased longevity, indicating a buildup of soil-borne pathogens beneath the parent tree was partly causal of recruitment failures [
9]. The time required to reach 30 cm in height here was greater than during nursery production of
S. nelsonii or
S. grandiflora [
7,
15]. This was likely a result of the luxurious horticultural inputs and benign microclimates of container nursery conditions as compared to the closed-canopy forest cover.
This pioneering study illuminates the utility of below-plant light reflection, and should be expanded upon with further research to refine applicable outcomes. First, numerous colors of plastic mulch have been used in horticulture and agronomy production systems, with some colors uniquely influencing many plant responses (reviewed in [
10,
11,
12,
13]). For example, red plastic mulch increased tomato (
Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) yields more so than black, silver, or white mulch [
25]. White plastic mulch passively reduced leaf herbivory of poinsettia (
Euphorbia pulcherrima Wild.) more so than black or red plastic mulch [
26]. Contrarily, yellow plastic mulch has been shown to preferentially attract insect herbivores to crop plants [
11]. Blue or white plastic mulch elicited greater plant photosynthesis in young cucumber (
Cucumis sativus L.) seedlings than brown, black, silver, or red plastic mulch [
27]. Red and blue plastic mulch reduced the total aroma content of basil (
Ocimum basilicum L.) leaves compared to black, green, yellow, or white plastic mulch [
28]. Silver or aluminum mulch altered microclimate and reduced insect herbivory of several vegetable crops [
14]. And silver plastic mulch reflected greater quantities of light than black or white plastic mulch [
29]. The literature indicates that the use of other highly reflective mulches such as silver plastic mulch or aluminum foil may be a more affordable approach for effectively reflecting light beneath
Serianthes seedlings with growth responses comparable to that of mirrors. Comparative trials to determine the utility of these and other less expensive reflective surfaces would be simple to implement. Second, larger mirrors that are strategically positioned with an angle to reflect morning and afternoon light into the
Serianthes seedling canopy may improve survival and growth to a greater degree than the small, horizontal mirrors used in the present study. Third, these methods may also improve post-transplant survival of container-grown nursery plants, a likelihood that deserves further research as a means of reducing post-transplant mortality.
Adaptive management based on carefully planned conservation experimental protocols is recognized as a critical component of plant conservation. Some United States agencies have been criticized for avoiding the rigorous experimental approach to conservation that is the fundamental core of adaptive management [
30]. This Guam case study has emerged as a key example, as no research was funded or implemented for almost two decades after the recovery plan was published. Recovery efforts of the critically endangered, charismatic tree have been recognized as inadequate during the 30 years since the national recovery plan was published [
3]. The 1994 goal was the addition of 2000
S. nelsonii reproductive trees within a 16-year period. To date, no trees produced in conservation nurseries have survived long enough to exhibit successful regeneration [
6], and the 122 trees in existence at the time the plan was published have declined to fewer than 40 [
31]. Most of the practitioners who have been funded throughout the years have not included carefully planned research in their management efforts, so the new knowledge that could have been added to better inform species recovery efforts is lacking. As a result, progress reports on how species recovery is progressing have relied heavily on practitioner anecdotes and the gray literature [
6]. Relying on this form of information is known to elicit conservation failures [
32]. The practice of funding capable scientists to execute rigorous experimental approaches while implementing funded
S. nelsonii conservation projects is urgently needed.