Differences in drought sensitivities and photosynthetic limitations between co-occurring C3 and C4 (NADP-ME) Panicoid grasses.

ABSTRACT:

Background and aims

The success of C4 plants lies in their ability to attain greater efficiencies of light, water and nitrogen use under high temperature, providing an advantage in arid, hot environments. However, C4 grasses are not necessarily less sensitive to drought than C3 grasses and are proposed to respond with greater metabolic limitations, while the C3 response is predominantly stomatal. The aims of this study were to compare the drought and recovery responses of co-occurring C3 and C4 NADP-ME grasses from the subfamily Panicoideae and to determine stomatal and metabolic contributions to the observed response.

Methods

Six species of locally co-occurring grasses, C3) species Alloteropsis semialata subsp. eckloniana, Panicum aequinerve and Panicum ecklonii, and C4 (NA

SUBMITTER: Ripley B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2826257 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature