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Responses of Selected Plant Species to Elevated Carbon Dioxide in the Field
Author(s) -
Rogers H. H.,
Bingham G. E.,
Cure J. D.,
Smith J. M.,
Surano K. A.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of environmental quality
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.888
H-Index - 171
eISSN - 1537-2537
pISSN - 0047-2425
DOI - 10.2134/jeq1983.00472425001200040028x
Subject(s) - liquidambar styraciflua , carbon dioxide , stomatal conductance , photosynthesis , transpiration , agronomy , horticulture , biomass (ecology) , chemistry , water use efficiency , environmental science , botany , biology , organic chemistry
It has become of interest to study long‐term effects of CO 2 concentration on plant growth, because intensive burning of fossil fuels and destruction of forests promise to continue the recent rise in atmospheric partial pressures of CO 2 into the next century (Bolin, 1977; Stuiver, 1978). Effects of CO 2 enrichment on growth of crop and forest species were therefore studied for the first time in the field in open top exposure chambers at daytime mean CO 2 concentrations of 612, 936, 1292, and 1638 mg m −3 , and in ambient control plots. Increased growth of plant parts of corn ( Zea mays L. ‘Golden Bantam’), soybean [ Glycine max L. (Merr.) ‘Ransom’], loblolly pine ( Pinus taeda L.), and sweetgum ( Liquidambar styraciflua L.) were recorded. Growth increases for soybean and sweetgum in elevated CO 2 atmospheres were due to increases in leaf area and photosynthesis per unit leaf area, and decreases in conductance and, therefore, water use. For corn, however, photosynthesis was unaffected by CO 2 enhancement, and growth stimulation appeared to be due to lowered conductance and increased water use efficiency alone.