ALBERT

Notes: In this study, we investigated the impact of elevated atmospheric CO2 (ambient + 350 μmol mol–1) on fine root production and respiration in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) seedlings. After six months exposure to elevated CO2, root production measured by root in-growth bags, showed significant increases in mean total root length and biomass, which were more than 100% greater compared to the ambient treatment. This increased root length may have lead to a more intensive soil exploration. Chemical analysis of the roots showed that the roots in the elevated treatment accumulated more starch and had a lower C/N-ratio. Specific root respiration rates were significantly higher in the elevated treatment and this was probably attributed to increased nitrogen concentrations in the roots. Rhizospheric respiration and soil CO2 efflux were also enhanced in the elevated treatment. These results clearly indicate that under elevated atmospheric CO2 root production and development in Scots pine seedlings is altered and respiratory carbon losses through the root system are increased.

Notes: The control of soil nitrogen (N) availability under elevated atmospheric CO2 is central to predicting changes in ecosystem carbon (C) storage and primary productivity. The effects of elevated CO2 on belowground processes have so far attracted limited research and they are assumed to be controlled by indirect effects through changes in plant physiology and chemistry. In this study, we investigated the effects of a 4-year exposure to elevated CO2 (ambient + 400 µmol mol−1) in open top chambers under Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L) seedlings on soil microbial processes of nitrification and denitrification. Potential denitrification (DP) and potential N2O emissions were significantly higher in soils from the elevated CO2 treatment, probably regulated indirectly by the changes in soil conditions (increased pH, C availability and NO3– production). Net N mineralization was mainly accounted for by nitrate production. Nitrate production was significantly larger for soil from the elevated CO2 treatment in the field when incubated in the laboratory under elevated CO2 (increase of 100%), but there was no effect when incubated under ambient CO2. Net nitrate production of the soil originating from the ambient CO2 treatment in the field was not influenced by laboratory incubation conditions. These results indicate that a direct effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 on soil microbial processes might take place. We hypothesize that physiological adaptation or selection of nitrifiers could occur under elevated CO2 through higher soil CO2 concentrations. Alternatively, lower microbial NH4 assimilation under elevated CO2 might explain the higher net nitrification. We conclude that elevated atmospheric CO2 has a major direct effect on the soil microbial processes of nitrification and denitrification despite generally higher soil CO2 concentrations compared to atmospheric concentrations.

Notes: How forests will respond to rising [CO2] in the long term is uncertain, most studies having involved juvenile trees in chambers prior to canopy closure. Poplar free-air CO2 enrichment (Viterbo, Italy) is one of the first experiments to grow a forest from planting through canopy closure to coppice, entirely under open-air conditions using free-air CO2 enrichment technology. Three Populus species: P. alba, P. nigra and P. x euramericana, were grown in three blocks, each containing one control and one treatment plot in which CO2 was elevated to the expected 2050 concentration of 550 ppm. The objective of this study was to estimate gross primary production (GPP) from recorded leaf photosynthetic properties, leaf area index (LAI) and meteorological conditions over the complete 3-year rotation cycle. From the meteorological conditions recorded at 30 min intervals and biweekly measurements of LAI, the microclimate of leaves within the plots was estimated with a radiation transfer and energy balance model. This information was in turn used as input into a canopy microclimate model to determine light and temperature of different leaf classes at 30 min intervals which in turn was used with the steady-state biochemical model of leaf photosynthesis to compute CO2 uptake by the different leaf classes. The parameters of these models were derived from measurements made at regular intervals throughout the coppice cycle. The photosynthetic rates for different leaf classes were summed to obtain canopy photosynthesis, i.e. GPP. The model was run for each species in each plot, so that differences in GPP between species and treatments could be tested statistically. Significant stimulation of GPP driven by elevated [CO2] occurred in all 3 years, and was greatest in the first year (223–251%), but markedly lower in the second (19–24%) and third years (5–19%). Increase in GPP in elevated relative to control plots was highest for P. nigra in 1999 and for P. x euramericana in 2000 and 2001, although in 1999 P. alba had a higher GPP than P. x euramericana. Our analysis attributed the decline in stimulation to canopy closure and not photosynthetic acclimation. Over the 3-year rotation cycle from planting to harvest, the cumulative GPP was 4500, 4960 and 4010 g C m−2 for P. alba, P. nigra and P. x euramericana, respectively, in current [CO2] and 5260, 5800 and 5000 g C m−2 in the elevated [CO2] treatments. The relative changes were consistent with independent measurements of net primary production, determined independently from biomass increments and turnover.

Notes: Carbon cycling in ecosystems, and especially in forests, is intensively studied to predict the effects of global climate change, and the role which forests may play in ‘changing climate change’. One of the questions is whether the carbon balance of forests will be affected by increasing atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Regarding this question, effects of elevated [CO2] on woody-tissue respiration have frequently been neglected. Stem respiration of three Populus species (P. alba L. (Clone 2AS-11), P. nigra L. (Clone Jean Pourtet), and P. × euramericana (Clone I-214)) was measured in a managed, high-density forest plantation exposed to free-air CO2 enrichment (POPFACE). During the period of measurements, in May of the third year, stem respiration rates were not affected by the FACE treatment. Moreover, FACE did not influence the relationships between respiration rate and both stem temperature and relative growth rate. The results were supported by the reported absence of a FACE-effect on growth and stem wood density.

Notes: Model ecosystems were grown in 12 sunlit, climate-controlled chambers to gain insight into the effects of elevated (+3°C) air temperature (Tair) on temperate grasslands. In this study, the hypothesis of delayed senescence in response to elevated Tair was tested for Rumex acetosa L. and Plantago lanceolata L. During the autumn of the first treatment year, frequent measurements were made of leaf chlorophyll a (Chla) fluorescence transients. Chl fluorescence images of individual leaves as well as digital colour images of these ecosystems were captured. Chl fluorescence variables, such as the maximum quantum yield of primary photochemistry (Fv/Fm), indicated a decreasing efficiency with time. Despite no treatment effect on Fv/Fm, other variables derived from the Chl fluorescence transients showed a strong trend towards a positive effect of a 3°C temperature increase on the photosynthetic performance of R. acetosa and P. lanceolata in the first year. After mid-September, the initial positive treatment effect disappeared for R. acetosa, strongly suggesting that leaf lifespan of this species was shortened by higher Tair. One possible explanation is more intense drought stress in the elevated compared to the ambient temperature treatments. Second-year measurements were possibly too limited in time to confirm this trend. These results show that temperate grassland species may take advantage of a future increase in Tair during autumn. This will ultimately depend on the species' degree of acclimation to a temperature change and on the resistance to drought stress.

Notes: To determine how increased atmospheric CO2 will affect the physiology of coppiced plants, sprouts originating from two hybrid poplar clones (Populus trichocarpa × P. deltoides - Beaupre and P. deltoides × P. nigra - Robusta) were grown in open-top chambers containing ambient or elevated (ambient + 360 μmol mol−1) CO2 concentration. The effects of elevated CO2 concentration on leaf photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, dark respiration, carbohydrate concentration and nitrogen concentration were measured. Furthermore, dark respiration of leaves was partitioned into growth and maintenance components by regressing specific respiration rate vs specific growth rate. Sprouts of both clones exposed to CO2 enrichment showed no indication of photosynthetic down-regulation. During reciprocal gas exchange measurements, CO2 enrichment significantly increased photosynthesis of all sprouts by approximately 60% (P 〈 0.01) on both an early and late season sampling date, decreased stomatal conductance of all sprouts by 10% (P 〈 0.04) on the early sampling date and nonsignificantly decreased dark respiration by an average of 11%. Growth under elevated CO2 had no consistent effect on foliar sugar concentration but significantly increased foliar starch by 80%. Respiration rate was highly correlated with both specific growth rate and percent nitrogen. Long-term CO2 enrichment did not significantly affect the maintenance respiration coefficient or the growth respiration coefficient. Carbon dioxide enrichment affected the physiology of the sprouts the same way it affected these plants before they were coppiced.

Notes: Responses of abaxial and adaxial stomata of Populus trichocarpa Torr. & Gray. × P. deltoides Bartr. (ex Marsh.) cv. Unal to incident light, sudden darkening and leaf excision in the light and in the dark were studied on 5-year-old trees in the field using diffusion porometry. Stomatal closure in the dark was found to be incomplete in most cases studies. Stomata closed after leaf excision in the dark within 90 min. Stomatal closure after darkening of an entire tree or an entire branch (white the rest of the tree was in the light) was slower, and complete stomatal closure was noticed only for adaxial stomata after 3 h. Adaxial stomata were more reactive and sensitive than abaxial stomata to sudden darkening and leaf excision in the light and the dark. In all treatments, stomatal response was more responsive in mature leaves than in young, still expanding leaves.