Winners always win: growth of a wide range of plant species from low to future high CO2.

ABSTRACT: Evolutionary adaptation to variation in resource supply has resulted in plant strategies that are based on trade-offs in functional traits. Here, we investigate, for the first time across multiple species, whether such trade-offs are also apparent in growth and morphology responses to past low, current ambient, and future high CO 2 concentrations. We grew freshly germinated seedlings of up to 28 C3 species (16 forbs, 6 woody, and 6 grasses) in climate chambers at 160 ppm, 450 ppm, and 750 ppm CO 2. We determined biomass, allocation, SLA (specific leaf area), LAR (leaf area ratio), and RGR (relative growth rate), thereby doubling the available data on these plant responses to low CO 2. High CO 2 increased RGR by 8%; low CO 2 decreased RGR by 23%. Fast growers at ambient CO 2 had the greates

SUBMITTER: Temme AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4662314 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature