Physiological ecology of Mesozoic polar forests in a high CO2 environment.

ABSTRACT: Fossils show that coniferous forests extended into polar regions during the Mesozoic, a time when models and independent paleo-CO2 indicators suggest that the atmospheric CO2 concentration was at least double that of the present day. Consequently, such polar forests would have experienced high CO2 interacting with an extreme variation in light. Here we describe an experiment investigating this plant-environment interaction for extant tree species that were important components of polar forests, and give results from the first year of treatment. Specifically, we tested the hypotheses that growth in elevated CO2 (1) stimulates photosynthesis; (2) reduces photoinhibition during the polar summer; and (3) reduces respiration of above- and below-ground plant organs. Our results indicate that CO2

SUBMITTER: Beerling DJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4233824 | biostudies-literature | 2002 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature