Abstract
The effects of CO2 enrichment and soil nutrient status on tissue quality were investigated and related to the potential effect on growth and decomposition. Two California annuals, Avena fatua and Plantago erecta, were grown at ambient and ambient plus 35 Pa atmospheric CO2 in nutrient unamended and amended serpentine soil. Elevated CO2 led to significantly increased Avena shoot nitrogen concentrations in the nutrient amended treatment. It also led to decreased lignin concentrations in Avena roots in both nutrient treatments, and in Plantago shoots and roots with nutrient addition. Concentrations of total nonstructural carbohydrate (TNC) and carbon did not change with elevated CO2 in either species. As a consequence of increased biomass accumulation, increased CO2 led to larger total pools of TNC, lignin, total carbon, and total nitrogen in Avena with nutrient additions. Doubling CO2 had no significant effect on Plantago. Given the limited changes in the compounds related to decomposibility and plant growth, effects of increased atmospheric CO2 mediated through tissue composition on Avena and Plantago are likely to be minor and depend on site fertility. This study suggests that other factors such as litter moisture, whether or not litter is on the ground, and biomass allocation among roots and shoots, are likely to be more important in this California grassland ecosystem. CO2 could influence those directly as well as indirectly.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ågren GI, McMurtie RE, Parton WJ, Pastor J, Shugart HH (1991) State-of-the-art of models of production-decomposition linkage in conifer and grassland ecosystems. Ecol Appl 1: 118–138
Alexander M (1977) Soil microbiology, 2nd edn. Wiley, New York
Ashwell G (1966) New colorimetric methods of sugar analysis. VII. The phenol-sulfuric acid reaction for carbohydrates. Meth Enzymol 8: 85–94
Ayres MP (1993) Plant defense, herbivory, and climate change. In: Kingsolver JG, Kareiva PM, Huey RB (eds) Biotic interactions and global change. Sinauer, Sunderland, pp 75–94
Baker JT, Allen JH Jr, Boote KJ, Jones P, Jones JW (1990) Developmental responses of rice to photoperiod and carbon dioxide concentration. Agric For Meteorol 50: 201–210
Bazzaz FA (1990) The response of natural ecosystems to the rising global CO2 levels. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 21: 167–196
Berendse F, Berg B, Bosatta E (1987) The effect of lignin and nitrogen on the decomposition of litter in nutrient-poor ecosystems: a theoretical approach. Can J Bot 65: 1116–1120
Berg B, Ågren GI (1984) Decomposition of needle litter and its organic chemical components: theory and field experiments. Long-term decomposition in a Scots pine forest III. Can J Bot 62: 2880–2890
Bryant JP, Provenza FP, Pastor J, Reichardt PB, Clausen TP, Toit JT du (1991) Interactions between woody plants and browsing mammals mediated by secondary metabolites. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 22: 431–446
Chapin FS III (1980) The mineral nutrient of wild plants. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 11: 233–260
Chapin FS III, Schulze ED, Mooney HA (1990) The ecology and economics of storage in plants. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 21: 423–447
Chiariello Nr, Field CB (1996) Annual grassland responses to elevated CO2 in long-term community microcosms. In: Körner C, Bazzaz FA (eds) Community, population, and evolutionary responses to elevated carbon dioxide concentration. Academic Press, San Diego, in press
Chu CC, Coleman JS, Mooney HA (1992) Controls of biomass partitioning between roots and shoots: atmospheric CO2 enrichment and acquisition and allocation of carbon and nitrogen in wild radish. Oecologia 89: 580–587
Field CB (1991) Ecological scaling of carbon gain to stress and resource availability. In: Mooney HA, Winner WE, Pell EJ (eds) Response of plants to multiple stress. Academic Press, San Diego, pp 35–65
Field CB, Chapin FS III, Matson PA, Mooney HA (1992) Responses of terrestrial ecosystems of the changing atmosphere: A resource-based approach. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 23: 201–235
Field CB, Chapin FS III, Chiariello NR, Mooney HA, Holland E (1996) The Jasper Ridge CO2 experiment: design and motivation. In: Mooney HA, Koch GW (eds) Terrestrial ecosystem response to elevated CO2. Academic Press, London, pp 121–145
Gulmon SL, Mooney HA (1986) Costs of defense and their effects on plant productivity. In: Givnish TJ (ed) On the economy of plant form and function. Cambridge University Press, pp 681–698
Hewitt JD, Marrush M (1986) Remobilization of nonstructural carbohydrates from vegetative tissues to fruits in tomato. J Am Soc Hort Sci 111: 142–145
Hunt R, Hand DW, Hannah MA, Neal AM (1993) Further responses to CO2 enrichment in British herbaceous species. Funct Ecol 7: 661–668
Iiyama K, Wallis AFA (1990) Determination of lignin in herbaceous plants by an improved acetyl bromide procedure. J Sci Food Agric 51: 145–161
Ingestad T, Ågren GI (1991) The influence of plant nutrient on biomass allocation. Ecol Appl 2: 168–174
Jackson RB, Sala OE, Field CB, Mooney HA (1994) CO2 alters water use, carbon gain, and yield for the dominant species in a natural grassland. Oecologia 98: 257–262
Jansson PE, Berg B (1985) Temporal variation of litter decomposition in relation to simulated soil climate: long-term decomposition in a Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) forest: 5. Can J Bot 63: 1008–1016
Johnson RH, Lincoln DE (1991) Sagebrush carbon allocation patterns and grasshopper nutrition: the influence of CO2 enrichment and soil mineral limitation. Oecologia 87: 127–134
Körner C, Diemer M (1994) Evidence that plants from high altitudes retain their greater photosynthetic efficiency under elevated CO2. Funct Ecol 8: 58–68
Levin SA, Mooney HA, Field CB (1989) The dependence of plant root: shoot ratios on internal nitrogen concentration. Ann Bot 64: 71–75
Lincoln DE, Fajer ED, Johnson RH (1993) Plant-insect herbivore interactions in elevated CO2 environments. Trends Ecol Evol 8: 64–68
Luo Y, Field CB, Mooney HA (1994) Predicting responses of photosynthesis and root fraction to elevated (CO2)a: interactions among carbon, nitrogen, and growth. Plant Cell Environ 17: 1195–1204
Luo Y, Jackson RB, Field CB, Mooney HA (1996) Elevated CO2 increased belowground respiration in California grasslands. Oecologia (in press)
Marquis RJ (1984) Leaf herbivores decrease fitness of a tropical plant. Science 226: 537–539
Mauney JR, Lewin K, Hendrey GR, Kimball BA (1993) Responses of a cotton crop exposed to elevated CO2 by the FACE arrays. In: Hendrey GR (ed) Free-air CO2 enrichment for plant research in the field. CRC, Boca Raton, Florida
Meentemeyer V (1978) Macroclimate and lignin control of litter decomposition rates. Ecology 59: 465–472
Melillo JM, Aber JD, Muratore JF (1982) Nitrogen and lignin control of hardwood leaf litter decomposition dynamics. Ecology 63: 621–626
Mooney HA, Drake BG, Luxmoore RJ, Oechel WC, Pitelka LF (1991) Predicting ecosystem responses to elevated CO2 concentrations. What has been learned from laboratory experiments on plant physiology and field observations? BioScience 41: 96–104
Morrison IM (1972a) A semi-micro method for the determination of lignin and its use in predicting the digestibility of forage crops. J Sci Food Agric 23: 455–463
Morrison IM (1972b) Improvements in the acetyl bromide technique to determine lignin and digestibility and its application to legumes. J Sci Food Agric 23: 1463–1469
Norby RJ, Pastor J, Melillo JM (1986) Carbon-nitrogen interactions in CO2-enriched white oak: physiological and long-term perspectives. Tree Physiol 2: 233–241
Oberbauer SF, Sionit N, Hastings SJ, Oechel WC (1986) Effects of CO2 enrichment and nutrient on growth, photosynthesis, and nutrient concentration of Alaskan tundra plant species. Can J Bot 64: 2993–2998
Ojima DS, Parton WJ, Schimel DS, Scurlock JMO, Kittel TGF (1993) Modeling the effects of climatic and CO2 changes on grassland storage of soil C. Water Air Soil Pollut 70: 643–657
Owensby CE, Ham JM, Knapp A, Rice CW, Coyne PI, Auen LM (1996) Ecosystem-level responses of tallgrass prairie to elevated CO2. In: Mooney HA, Koch GW (eds) Terrestrial ecosystem response to elevated CO2. Academic Press, London, pp 147–162
Poorter H, Welschen RAM (1993) Variation in RGR underlying carbon economy. In: Hendry GAF, Grime JP (eds) Methods in comparative ecology, a laboratory manual. Chapman and Hall, London, pp 107–110
Prior SA, Rogers HH, Sionit N, Patterson RP (1991) Effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on water relations of soy bean. Agric Ecosyst Environ 35: 13–26
Reekie EG, Bazzaz FA (1991) Phenology and growth in four annual species in ambient and elevated CO2. Can J Bot 69: 2475–2481
Rogers HH, Cure JD, Smith JM (1986) Soybean growth and yield response to elevated carbon dioxide. Agric Ecosyst Environ 16: 113–128
Rogers HH, Runion GB (1994) Plant responses to atmospheric CO2 enrichment with emphasis on roots and the rhizosphere. Environ Pollut 83: 155–189
Schonfeld M, Johnson RC, Ferris DM (1989) Development of winter wheat under increased atmospheric CO2 and water limitation at tillering. Crop Sci 29: 1083–1086
Smith D (1969) Removing and analyzing total nonstructural carbohydrates from plant tissue (Research Report 41). University of Wisconsin, Wisconsin
Sokal RR, Rohlf FJ (1981) Biometry. Freeman, San Francisco
Stitt M (1991) Rising CO2 levels and their potential significance for carbon flow in photosynthetic cell. Plant Cell Environ 14: 741–762
Stitt M (1993) Enhanced CO2, photosynthesis and growth; what should we measure to gain a better understanding of the plant's response? In: Schulze ED, Mooney HA (eds) Design and execution of experiments on CO2 enrichment. Commission of the European communities, Luxembourg, Germany
Swift MJ, Heal OW, Anderson JM (1979) Decomposition in terrestrial ecosystems. University of California Press, Berkeley
Taylor BR, Parkinson D, Parsons W FJ (1989) Nitrogen and lignin content as predictors of litter decay rates: a microcosm test. Ecology 70: 97–104
Wieder RK, Lang GE (1982) A critique of the analytical methods used in examining decomposition data obtained from litter bags. Ecology 63: 1636–1642
Williams WE, Garbutt K, Bazzaz FA (1988) The response of plants to elevated CO2. V. Performance of an assemblage of serpentine grassland herbs. Environ Exp Bot 28: 123–130
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Chu, C.C., Field, C.B. & Mooney, H.A. Effects of CO2 and nutrient enrichment on tissue quality of two California annuals. Oecologia 107, 433–440 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00333932
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00333932