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Direct and indirect effects of elevated CO 2 on leaf respiration in a forest ecosystem
Author(s) -
Hamilton J. G.,
Thomas R. B.,
Delucia E. H.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1046/j.0016-8025.2001.00730.x
Subject(s) - respiration , liquidambar styraciflua , carbon dioxide , q10 , respiration rate , biomass (ecology) , soil respiration , ecosystem , botany , chemistry , zoology , horticulture , biology , agronomy , ecology
We measured the short‐term direct and long‐term indirect effects of elevated CO 2 on leaf dark respiration of loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda ) and sweetgum ( Liquidambar styraciflua ) in an intact forest ecosystem. Trees were exposed to ambient or ambient + 200 µ mol mol −1 atmospheric CO 2 using free‐air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) technology. After correcting for measurement artefacts, a short‐term 200 µ mol mol −1 increase in CO 2 reduced leaf respiration by 7–14% for sweetgum and had essentially no effect on loblolly pine. This direct suppression of respiration was independent of the CO 2 concentration under which the trees were grown. Growth under elevated CO 2 did not appear to have any long‐term indirect effects on leaf maintenance respiration rates or the response of respiration to changes in temperature ( Q 10 , R 0 ). Also, we found no relationship between mass‐based respiration rates and leaf total nitrogen concentrations. Leaf construction costs were unaffected by growth CO 2 concentration, although leaf construction respiration decreased at elevated CO 2 in both species for leaves at the top of the canopy. We conclude that elevated CO 2 has little effect on leaf tissue respiration, and that the influence of elevated CO 2 on plant respiratory carbon flux is primarily through increased biomass.