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  • 1
    ISSN: 1365-3040
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology
    Notes: Continually rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations and possible climatic change may cause significant changes in plant communities. This study was undertaken to investigate gas exchange in two important grass species of the short-grass steppe, Pascopyrum smithii (western wheat-grass), C3, and Bouteloua gracilis (blue grama), C4, grown at different CO2 concentrations and temperatures. Intact soil cores containing each species were extracted from grasslands in north-eastern Colorado, USA, placed in growth chambers, and grown at combinations of two CO2 concentrations (350 and 700 μmol mol−1) and two temperature regimes (field average and elevated by 4°C). Leaf gas exchange was measured during the second, third and fourth growth seasons. All plants exhibited higher leaf CO2 assimilation rates (A) with increasing measurement CO2 concentration, with greater responses being observed in the cool-season C3 species P. smithii. Changes in the shape of intercellular CO2 response curves of A for both species indicated photosynthetic acclimation to the different growth environments. The photosynthetic capacity of P. smithii leaves tended to be reduced in plants grown at high CO2 concentrations, although A for plants grown and measured at 700μmol mol−1 CO2 was 41% greater than that in plants grown and measured at 350 μmol mol−1 CO2. Low leaf N concentration may have contributed to photosynthetic acclimation to CO2. A severe reduction in photosynthetic capacity was exhibited in P. smithii plants grown long-term at elevated temperatures. As a result, the potential response of photosynthesis to CO2 enrichment was reduced in P. smithii plants grown long-term at the higher temperature.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 2
    Electronic Resource
    Electronic Resource
    Oxford, UK : Blackwell Science Ltd
    Global change biology 11 (2005), S. 0 
    ISSN: 1365-2486
    Source: Blackwell Publishing Journal Backfiles 1879-2005
    Topics: Biology , Energy, Environment Protection, Nuclear Power Engineering , Geography
    Notes: The dynamics and demography of roots were followed for 5 years that spanned wet and drought periods in native, semiarid shortgrass steppe grassland exposed to ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2 treatments. Elevated compared with ambient CO2 concentrations resulted in greater root-length growth (+52%), root-length losses (+37%), and total pool sizes (+41%). The greater standing pool of roots under elevated compared with ambient CO2 was because of the greater number of roots (+35%), not because individuals were longer. Loss rates increased relatively less than growth rates because life spans were longer (+41%). The diameter of roots was larger under elevated compared with ambient CO2 only in the upper soil profile. Elevated CO2 affected root architecture through increased branching.Growth-to-loss ratio regressions to time of equilibrium indicate very long turnover times of 5.8, 7.0, and 5.3 years for control, ambient, and elevated CO2, respectively. Production was greater under elevated compared with ambient CO2 both below- and aboveground, and the above- to belowground ratios did not differ between treatments. However, estimates of belowground production differed among methods of calculation using minirhizotron data, as well as between minirhizotron and root-ingrowth methods. Users of minirhizotrons may need to consider equilibration in terms of both new growth and disappearance, rather than just growth.Large temporal pulses of root initiation and termination rates of entire individuals were observed (analogous to birth–death rates), and precipitation explained more of the variance in root initiation than termination. There was a dampening of the pulsing in root initiation and termination under elevated CO2 during both wet and dry periods, which may be because of conservation of soil water reducing the suddenness of wet pulses and duration and severity of dry pulses. However, a very low degree of synchrony was observed between growth and disappearance (production and decomposition).
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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  • 3
    ISSN: 1432-1939
    Keywords: Key words Blue grama (Bouteloua gracilis) ; Carbon dioxide ; Global change ; Partitioning ; Western wheatgrass (Pascopyrum smithii)
    Source: Springer Online Journal Archives 1860-2000
    Topics: Biology
    Notes: Abstract The eastern Colorado shortgrass steppe is dominated by the C4 grass, Bouteloua gracilis, but contains a mixture of C3 grasses as well, including Pascopyrum smithii. Although the ecology of this region has been extensively studied, there is little information on how increasing atmospheric CO2 will affect it. This growth chamber study investigated gas exchange, water relations, growth, and biomass and carbohydrate partitioning in B. gracilis and P. smithii grown under present ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations of 350 μl l−1and 700 μl l−1, respectively, and two deficit irrigation regimes. The experiment was conducted in soil-packed columns planted to either species over a 2-month period under summer-like conditions and with no fertilizer additions. Our objective was to better understand how these species and the functional groups they represent will respond in future CO2-enriched environments. Leaf CO2 assimilation (A n), transpiration use efficiency (TUE, or A n/transpiration), plant growth, and whole-plant water use efficiency (WUE, or plant biomass production/water evapotranspired) of both species were greater at elevated CO2, although responses were more pronounced for P. smithii. Elevated CO2 enhanced photosynthesis, TUE, and growth in both species through higher soil water content (SWC) and leaf water potentials (Ψ) and stimulation of photosynthesis. Consumptive water use was greater and TUE less for P. smithii than B. gracilis during early growth when soil water was more available. Declining SWC with time was associated with a steadily increased sequestering of total non-structural carbohydrates (TNCs), storage carbohydrates (primarily fructans for P. smithii) and biomass in belowground organs of P. smithii, but not B. gracilis. The root:shoot ratio of P. smithii also increased at elevated CO2, while the root:shoot ratio of B. gracilis was unresponsive to CO2. These partitioning responses may be the consequence of different ontogenetic strategies of a cool-season and warm-season grass entering a warm, dry summer period; the cool-season P. smithii responds by sequestering TNCs belowground in preparation for summer dormancy, while resource partitioning of the warm-season B. gracilis remains unaltered. One consequence of greater partitioning of resources into P. smithii belowground organs in the present study was maintenance of higher Ψ and A n rates. This, along with differences in photosynthetic pathway, may have accounted for the greater responsiveness of P. smithii to CO2 enrichment compared to B. gracilis.
    Type of Medium: Electronic Resource
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