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Acorn mass and seedling growth in Quercus rubra in response to elevated CO 2
Author(s) -
Miao Shili
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
journal of vegetation science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.1
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1654-1103
pISSN - 1100-9233
DOI - 10.2307/3236440
Subject(s) - acorn , seedling , shoot , biomass (ecology) , biology , intraspecific competition , dry weight , botany , horticulture , agronomy , ecology
. In order to explore whether seed size affects plant response to elevated CO 2 , plants grown from red oak ( Quercus rubra L.) acorns were studied for differences in their first year response to CO 2 concentrations of 350 and 700 μl/l. Overall, at final harvest, total biomass of plants grown in elevated CO 2 were 47 % larger than that of plants grown in ambient CO 2 . There were significant interactions between CO 2 treatments and initial acorn mass for total biomass, as well as for root, leaf, and stem biomass. Although total biomass increased with increasing initial acorn mass for both high and ambient CO 2 plants, high CO 2 plants exhibited a greater increase than ambient CO 2 plants, as indicated by a steeper slope in high CO 2 plants. However, CO 2 levels did not affect biomass partitioning traits, such as root/shoot ratio, leaf, stem, and root weight ratios, and leaf area ratio. These results suggest that variation in seed size or initial plant size can cause intraspecific variation in response to elevated CO 2 .