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Heritable variation in stomatal responses to elevated CO 2 in wild radish, Raphanus raphanistrum (Brassicaceae)
Author(s) -
Case Andrea L.,
Curtis Peter S.,
Snow Allison A.
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
american journal of botany
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.218
H-Index - 151
eISSN - 1537-2197
pISSN - 0002-9122
DOI - 10.2307/2446313
Subject(s) - biology , fecundity , brassicaceae , natural selection , botany , guard cell , photosynthesis , population , demography , sociology
Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide may affect plant populations in the short term through effects on photosynthesis and carbon allocation, and over the long term as an agent of natural selection. To test for heritable effects of elevated CO 2 on stomatal responses and plant fecundity in Raphanus raphanistrum, we grew plants from 12 paternal families in outdoor open‐top chambers at ambient (35 Pa) or elevated (67 Pa) CO 2 . Contrary to results from a previous study of this species, total flower and fruit production were marginally lower under elevated CO 2 . Across families, stomatal index and guard cell length showed little response to CO 2 enrichment, but these characters varied significantly among paternal families in both the direction and magnitude of their response to changing CO 2 . Although these family‐by‐CO 2 interactions suggest that natural selection might affect stomatal characters when ambient CO 2 levels increase, we found no significant correlation between either character and flower or fruit production. Therefore, our data suggest that while heritable variation for stomatal index and guard cell length exists in this population, selection due to increasing CO 2 is not likely to act on these traits because they had no detectable effect on lifetime fecundity.