Effects of elevated carbon dioxide and drought on the growth and physiology of clonal Sitka spruce plants (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Two-year-old Sitka spruce (Picea sitchensis (Bong.) Carr.) plants from four clones were grown in naturally lit growth chambers for 6 months at either ambient (350 ppm) or ambient + 250 ppm (600 ppm) CO(2) concentration. Plants were grown in large boxes filled with peat, in a system that allowed the roots of individual plants to be harvested easily at the end of the growing season. Half of the boxes were kept well watered and half were allowed to dry out slowly over the summer. Plants growing in elevated CO(2) showed a 6.9% increase in mean relative growth rate compared to controls in the drought treatment and a 9.8% increase compared to controls in the well-watered treatment, though there was considerable variation in response among the different clones and water treatments. Rates of net CO(2) assimilation were higher and stomatal conductances were lower in plants grown in elevated CO(2) than in ambient CO(2) in both the well-watered and drought treatments. Both of these factors contributed to the doubling of instantaneous water use efficiency. The partitioning of biomass to roots was unaffected by elevated CO(2), but the ratio of needle mass/stems + branches mass decreased. Together with reduced stomatal conductance, this probably caused the observed increases in xylem pressure potentials with elevated CO(2).

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: