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LONG‐TERM CO 2 ENRICHMENT OF A PASTURE COMMUNITY: SPECIES RICHNESS, DOMINANCE, AND SUCCESSION
Author(s) -
Potvin Catherine,
Vasseur Liette
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
ecology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.144
H-Index - 294
eISSN - 1939-9170
pISSN - 0012-9658
DOI - 10.1890/0012-9658(1997)078[0666:ltceoa]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - ecological succession , dominance (genetics) , species richness , biology , secondary succession , ecology , repens , botany , biochemistry , gene
The present study addresses responses of a pasture community to CO 2 enrichment in situ. It focused on two levels of organization. We examined changes in both community properties and species‐specific responses during long‐term exposure to high CO 2 concentration. The underlying hypothesis is that CO 2 enrichment could change community composition. At the community level, we observed higher species richness and lesser dominance under enriched than ambient CO 2 . Two species were apparently central in explaining our results, Agropyron repens and Plantago major. The cover of this first species increased only under ambient CO 2 . Conversely, the cover of the latter species decreased under ambient CO 2 but remained stable under enriched CO 2 . Species were pooled into dicots and monocots to examine space acquisition. Changes in monocot cover through time were more tightly coupled with that of dicots under ambient than high CO 2 . Enrichment with CO 2 appeared to have a positive effect on the early‐successional species, preventing the complete dominance by late‐successional species. In fact, under elevated CO 2 early‐ and late‐successional species were coexisting. Therefore, our results suggest the possibility that succession patterns might be altered by CO 2 enrichment apparently because enriched CO 2 stimulates the growth of dicots.