Elevated CO2reduces the nitrogen concentration of plant tissues

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
We summarize the impacts of elevated CO2on the N concentration of plant tissues and present data to support the hypothesis that reductions in the quality of plant tissue commonly occur when plants are grown under elevated CO2. Synthesis of existing data showed an average 14% reduction of N concentrations in plant tissue generated under elevated CO2regimes. However, elevated CO2appeared to have different effects on the N concentrations of different plant types, as the reported reductions in N have been larger in C3 plants than in C4 plants and N2‐fixers. Under elevated CO2plants changed their allocation of N between above‐ and below‐ground components: root N concentrations were reduced by an average of 9% compared to a 14% average reduction for above‐ground tissues. Although the concentration of CO2treatments represented a significant source of variance for plant N concentration, no consistent trends were observed between them.