Morphological, Physiological and Photophysiological Responses of Critically Endangered to Acid Stress.

Acid rain deposition (AR) has long-lasting implications for the community stability and biodiversity conservation in southwest China. is a critically endangered species in the rain zone of Western China where AR occurs frequently. To understand the effects of AR on the morphology and physiology of , we conducted an acid stress simulation experiment for 1.5 years. The morphological, physiological, and photosynthetic responses of to the acidity, composition, and deposition pattern of acid stress was observed. The results showed that simulated acid stress can promote the growth of via the soil application mode. The growth improvement of under nitric-balanced acid rain via the soil application mode was greater than that of sulfuric-dominated acid rain via the soil application mode. On the contrary, the growth of was significantly inhibited by acid stress and the inhibition increased with the acidity of acid stress applied via leaf spraying. The inhibitory impacts of nitric-balanced acid rain via the leaf spraying of were greater than that of sulfur-dominant acid rain via leaf spraying. The observations presented in this work can be utilized for considering potential population restoration plans for , as well as the forests in southwest China.