European Facility For Airborne Research

European Facility For Airborne Research Dec. 9, 2024, 14:18

Document

Description
Title Functional diversity of photosynthesis during drought in a model tropical rainforest – the contributions of leaf area, photosynthetic electron transport and stomatal conductance to reduction in net ecosystem carbon exchange
Type Publication
Abstract:

The tropical rainforest mesocosm within the Biosphere 2 Laboratory, a model system of some 110 species developed over 12 years under controlled environmental conditions, has been subjected to a series of comparable drought experiments during 2000–2002. In each study, the mesocosm was subjected to a 4–6 week drought, with well-defined rainfall events before and after the treatment. Ecosystem CO2 uptake rate (Aeco) declined 32% in response to the drought, with changes occurring within days and being reversible within weeks, even though the deeper soil layers did not become significantly drier and leaf-level water status of most large trees was not greatly affected. The reduced Aeco during the drought reflected both morphological and physiological responses. It is estimated that the drought-induced 32% reduction of Aeco has three principal components: (1) leaf fall increased two-fold whereas leaf expansion growth of some canopy dominants declined to 60%, leading to a 10% decrease in foliage coverage of the canopy. This might be the main reason for the persistent reduction of Aeco after rewatering. (2) The maximum photosynthetic electron transport rate at high light intensities in remaining leaves was reduced to 71% for three of the four species measured, even though no chronic photo-inhibition occurred. (3) Stomata closed, leading to a reduced ecosystem water conductance to water vapour (33% of pre-drought values), which not only reduced ecosystem carbon uptake rate, but may also have implications for water and energy budgets of tropical ecosystems. Additionally, individual rainforest trees responded differently, expressing different levels of stress and stress avoiding mechanisms. This functional diversity renders the individual response heterogeneous and has fundamental implications to scale leaf level responses to ecosystem dynamics.

Available from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1365-3040.2004.01231.x/full
Author
NICHOL Caroline j.
RASCHER Uwe
E. BOBICH, G. LIN, A. WALTER, T. MORRIS, M. NAUMANN, D. PIERCE, K. BIL, V. KUDEYAROV, J. BERRY
Reference
Journal Plant, Cell & Environment
Volume 27
Pages 1239-1256
Year 2004
Times cited 0
Institute country United States of America
Type of science
  • Biology and Ecology (includes animals and vegetation)
  • Gas chemistry
  • Precipitation
Field of science
  • Biosphere
  • Troposphere
File details
Added Feb. 2, 2007, 00:00
Last update Nov. 20, 2023, 14:41
Size 727.4 KB
File name 14732580374649aa2ba9e45:Rascher_et_al_2004_PCE_bis.pdf
Visibility Public - Available for any user
Links with specific subjects

Go to the document list

Back to top
Copyright © 2024 EUFAR All rights reserved.