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Growth and reproductive responses to elevated CO 2 in wild cereals of the northern Negev of Israel
Author(s) -
Grünzweig J. M.,
Körner CH.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
global change biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 4.146
H-Index - 255
eISSN - 1365-2486
pISSN - 1354-1013
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-2486.2000.00346.x
Subject(s) - seedling , biomass (ecology) , germination , agronomy , aegilops , fertilizer , ecosystem , biology , nutrient , vegetation (pathology) , hordeum vulgare , botany , poaceae , ecology , medicine , pathology , gene , ploidy , biochemistry
Summary How might wild relatives of modern cereals have responded to past, and how might they respond to future, atmospheric CO 2 enrichment under competitive situations in a dry, low‐nutrient environment? In order to test this, Aegilops and Hordeum species, common in semiarid annual grasslands of the Middle East, were grown in nine model ecosystems (400 kg each) with a natural matrix of highly diverse Negev vegetation established on native soil shipped to Basel, Switzerland. In a simulated, seasonally variable climate of the northern Negev, communities experienced a full life‐cycle in 280 (preindustrial), 440 (immediate future) and 600 ppm of CO 2 (end of the next century). Neither Aegilops ( A. kotschyi and A. peregrina ), nor Hordeum spontaneum showed a significant biomass response to CO 2 concentrations exceeding 280 ppm The reproductive output remained unaffected or even declined ( A. peregrina ) under elevated CO 2 . Non‐structural carbohydrates in leaf tissues increased and N concentration decreased with increasing CO 2 concentration. N concentration, germination success and seedling development of newly formed grains were either unchanged or reduced in response to high CO 2 treatment of parent plants. In a separate fertilizer × CO 2 trial with A. kotschyi nested in smaller model communities, we found no effect of P addition, but a 2–3‐fold biomass increase by NPK addition compared to the unfertilized control. A significant stimulation of biomass by CO 2 enrichment (+ 44% between 280 and 600 ppm) was obtained only in the NPK treatment. These data suggest that increased CO 2 concentration had little direct effect on growth and reproduction in these ‘wild cereals’ in the recent past, and the same seems to hold for their future, except if N‐rich fertilizer is added.