Effects of Elevated Air CO<span class='sub'>2</span> Concentration on Bryophytes: a Review

doi:10.1017/CBO9780511779701.005

4 - Effects of Elevated Air CO2 Concentration on Bryophytes: a Review

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012

Edit Ötvös and

Edited by

Nancy G. Slack and

Edit Ötvös: Affiliation:
Szent István University, Hungary
Ildikó Jócsák: Affiliation:
Szent István University, Hungary
Nancy G. Slack: Affiliation:
Sage Colleges, New York
Lloyd R. Stark: Affiliation:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Book contents

Get access

Summary

Introduction

The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing over the past two centuries from about 280 ppm to a present value of 360 ppm, and is expected to reach more than twice the pre-industrial concentration in this century (Houghton et al. 1990). Variations in atmospheric CO2 concentration are nothing new; CO2 concentrations were higher or lower during some earlier geological periods. Bryophytes as ancient C3 land plants experienced these changes of CO2 concentrations in air. What is new is that the present increase is faster than most changes that have taken place in the geologically recent past. Results of research on bryophytes are compared with those on desiccation-sensitive and evolutionarily younger vascular C3 plants, the most widely investigated group in the field of global change.

Desiccation-tolerant (DT) bryophytes are an important component of the photosynthesizing biomass, including arctic and alpine tundras, temperate, mediterranean and sub/tropical grasslands, and non-arborescent communities of arid and semi-arid habitats (Kappen 1973; Smith 1982; Hawksworth & Ritchie 1993). For example, Sphagnum species are globally important owing to their considerable peat-forming ability and their potential impact on global climatic cycles (Gorham 1991; Franzén 1994).

Globally, peatlands are estimated to cover between 3.8 and 4.1 million square kilometers (Charman 2002), equivalent to about 3% of the land surface. Peat accumulation over thousands of years has resulted in a vast store of 450 × 1015 g C (Gorham 1991), which is at least 20% of the global carbon store in terrestrial ecosystems.

Type: Chapter
Information: Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change , pp. 55 - 70

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511779701.005 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Ashenden, T. W., Baxter, R. & Rafarel, C. R. (1992). An inexpensive system for exposing plants in the field to elevated concentrations of CO2. Plant Cell and Environment 15: 365–72.Google Scholar

Baker, R. G. & Boatman, D. J. (1990). Some effects of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and carbon dioxide concentration on the morphology and vegetative reproduction of Sphagnum cuspidatum Ehrh. New Phytologist 116: 605–11.Google Scholar

Berendse, F., Breemen, N., Rydin, H.et al. (2001). Raised atmospheric CO2 levels and increased N deposition cause shifts in plant species composition and production in Sphagnum bogs. Global Change Biology 7: 591–8.Google Scholar

Bewley, D. J. (1979). Physiological aspects of desiccation tolerance. Annual Review of Plant Physiology 30: 195–238.Google Scholar

Charman, D. (2002). Peatlands and Environmental Change. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.

Csintalan, Zs., Tuba, Z. & Laitat, E. (1995). Slow chlorophyll fluorescence, net CO2 assimilation and carbohydrate responses in Polytrichum formosum to elevated CO2 concentrations. In Photosynthesis from Light to Biosphere, ed. Mathis, P., Vol. V, pp. 925–8. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRef

Csintalan, Zs., Takács, Z., Tuba, Z.et al. (1997). Some ecophysiological responses of a desiccation tolerant grassland lichen and moss under elevated CO2: preliminary findings. Abstracta Botanica 21: 309–15.Google Scholar

Csintalan, Z., Juhász, A., Benkő, Z., Raschi, A. & Tuba, Z. (2005). Photosynthetic responses of forest-floor moss species to elevated CO2 level by a natural CO2 vent. Cereal Research Communications 33: 177–80.Google Scholar

Drake, B. G., González-Meler, M. A. & Long, S. P. (1997). More efficient plants, a consequence of rising tropospheric CO2? Annual Review of Plant Physiology and Plant Molecular Biology 48: 607–37.Google Scholar

Franzén, L. G. (1994). Are wetlands the key to the ice-age cycle enigma? Ambio 23: 300–8.Google Scholar

Gorham, E. (1991). Northern peatlands: role in the carbon cycle and probable responses to climatic warming. Ecological Applications 1: 182–95.Google Scholar

Gunnarsson, U. (2005). Global patterns of Sphagnum productivity. Journal of Bryology 27: 269–79.Google Scholar

Hawksworth, D. L. & Ritchie, J. M. (1993). Biodiversity and Biosystematic Priorities: Microorganisms and Invertebrates. Wallingford: CAB International.

Heijmans, M. M. P. D., Berendse, F., Arp, W. J.et al. (2001). Effects of elevated carbon dioxide and increased nitrogen deposition on bog vegetation in the Netherlands. Journal of Ecology 89: 268–79.Google Scholar

Heijmans, M. M. P. D., Klees, H. & Berendse, F. (2002). Competition between Sphagnum magellanicum and Eriophorum angustifolium as affected by raised CO2 and increased N deposition. Oikos 97: 415–25.Google Scholar

Heijmans, M. M. P. D., Mauquoy, D., Geel, B. & Berendse, F. (2008). Long-term effects of climate change on vegetation and carbon dynamics in peat bogs. Journal of Vegetation Science 19: 307–20.Google Scholar

Hoosbeek, M. R., Breeman, N., Berendse, F.et al. (2001). Limited effect of increased atmospheric CO2 concentration on ombrotrophic bog vegetation. New Phytologist 150: 459–63.Google Scholar

Houghton, J. T., Jenkins, G. J. & Ephramus, J. J. (1990). Climate Change: The IPCC Scientific Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Jarvis, P. G. (1993). Global change and plant water relations. In: Water Transport in Plants under Climatic Stress, ed. Borghetti, M., Grace, J. & Raschi, A., pp. 1–13. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Jauhiainen, J. & Silvola, J. (1996). The effect of elevated CO2 concentration on photosynthesis of Sphagnum fuscum. In: Northern Peatlands in Global Climatic Change, ed. Laiho, R., Laine, J. & Vasander, H., pp. 23–9. Helsinki: Academy of Finland.

Jauhiainen, J., Silvola, J. & Vasander, H. (1998). Effects of increased carbon dioxide and nitrogen supply on mosses. In Bryology for the Twenty-first Century, ed. Bates, J. W., Ashton, N. W. & Duckett, J. G., pp. 343–60. Leeds: Maney Publishing and the British Bryological Society.

Jauhiainen, J. & Silvola, J. (1999). Photosynthesis of Sphagnum fuscum at long-term raised CO2 concentrations. Annales Botanici Fennici 36: 11–19.Google Scholar

Kappen, L. (1973). Response to extreme environments. In The Lichens, ed. Ahmadjian, V. & Hale, M. E., pp. 311–80. New York, London: Academic Press.CrossRef

Körner, C. A. & ArnoneIII, J. A. (1992). Responses to elevated carbon dioxide in artificial tropical ecosystems. Science 257: 1672–5.Google Scholar

Körner, C. & Bazzaz, F. A. (1966). Carbon Dioxide, Populations, and Communities. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Last, F. T. (ed.) (1986). Microclimate and plant growth in open top chambers. CEC, Air Pollution Research Report5. EUR 11257.

Leadley, P. W. & Drake, B. G. (1993). Open top chambers for exposing plant canopies to elevated CO2 concentration and for measuring net gas exchange. Vegetatio 104/105: 3–16.Google Scholar

Lewin, K. F., Hendrey, G. & Kolber, Z. (1992). Brookhaven National Laboratory Free-Air Carbon dioxide Enrichment facility. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 11: 135–41.Google Scholar

Miglietta, F., Hoosbeek, M. R., Foot, J.et al. (2001). Spatial and temporal performance of the miniFACE (free air CO2 enrichment) system on bog ecosystems in Northern and Central Europe. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 66: 107–27.Google Scholar

Mitchell, E. A. D., Butler, A., Grosvernier, P.et al. (2002). Contrasted effects of increased N and CO2 supply on two keystone species in peatland restoration and implications for global change. Journal of Ecology 90: 529–33.Google Scholar

Oechel, W. C. & Svejnbjörnsson, B. (1978). Primary production processes in arctic bryophytes at Barrow, Alaska. In Vegetation and Production Ecology of an Alaskan Arctic Tundra, ed. Tieszen, L. L., pp. 269–98. New York: Springer.CrossRef

Oechel, W. C. & Lawrence, W. T. (1985). Taiga. In Physiological Ecology of North American Plant Communities, ed. Chabot, B. F. & Mooney, H. A., pp. 66–94. New York: Chapman and Hall.CrossRef

Overdieck, D. (1993). Elevated CO2 and mineral content of herbaceous and woody plants. Vegetatio 104/105: 403–11.Google Scholar

Pannewitz, S., Green, T. G. A., Maysek, K.et al. (2005). Photosynthetic responses of three common mosses from continental Antarctica. Antarctic Science 17: 341–52.Google Scholar

Payer, H. D., Blodow, P., Koefferlein, M.et al. (1993). Controlled environment chambers for experimental studies on plant responses to CO2 and interactions with pollutants. In Design and Execution of Experiments on CO2 Enrichment, ed. Schulze, D. & Mooney, H., Commission of the European Communities, Ecosystem Research Report, 6: 127–47.

Proctor, M. C. F. (1981). Physiological ecology of bryophytes. In Advances in Bryology, ed. Schultze-Motel, W., Vol. 1, pp. 79–166. Vaduz: Cramer.

Rafael, C. R., Ashenden, T. W. & Roberts, T. M. (1995). An improved solardome system for exposing plants to elevated CO2 and temperature. New Phytologist 131: 481–90.Google Scholar

Raschi, A., Miglietta, F., Tognetti, R. & Gardingen, P. R. (1997). Plant Responses to Elevated CO2: Evidence from Natural Springs. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRef

Rogers, H. H., Prior, S. A. & O'Neill, E. G. (1992). Cotton root and rhizosphere responses to free-air CO2 enrichment. Critical Reviews in Plant Sciences 11: 251–63.Google Scholar

Silvola, J. (1985). CO2 dependence of photosynthesis in certain forest and peat mosses and simulated photosynthesis at various actual and hypothetical CO2 concentrations. Lindbergia 11: 86–93.Google Scholar

Schlesinger, W. H. (1997). Biogeochemistry: an Analysis of Global Change, 2nd edn. San Diego, CA: Academic Press.

Smith, A. J. E. (1982). Bryophyte Ecology. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRef

Soussana, J. F. & Loiseau, P. (1997). Temperate grass swards and climatic changes. The role of plant-soil interactions in elevated CO2. Abstracta Botanica 21: 223–34.Google Scholar

Sveinbjörnsson, B. & Oechel, W. C. (1992). Controls on growth and productivity of bryophytes: environmental limitations under current and anticipated conditions. In Bryophytes and Lichens in a Changing Environment, ed. Bates, J. W. & Farmer, A. M., pp. 77–102. Oxford: Clarendon Press.

Takács, Z., Ötvös, E., Lichtenthaler, H. K. & Tuba, Z. (2004). Chlorophyll fluorescence and CO2 exchange of the heavy metal-treated moss, Tortula ruralis under elevated CO2 concentration. Physiology and Molecular Biology of Plants 10: 291–6.Google Scholar

Tuba, Z., Lichtenthaler, H. K., Csintalan, Z s., Nagy, Z. & Szente, K. (1994). Reconstitution of chlorophylls and photosynthetic CO2 assimilation in the desiccated poikilochlorophyllous plant Xerophyta scabrida upon rehydration. Planta 192: 414–20.Google Scholar

Tuba, Z., Csintalan, Zs., Szente, K., Nagy, Z. & Grace, J. (1998). Carbon gains by desiccation tolerant plants at elevated CO2. Functional Ecology 12: 39–44.Google Scholar

Tuba, Z., Proctor, M. C. F. & Takács, Z. (1999). Dessication-tolerant plants under elevated air CO2: a review. Zeitschrift für Naturforschung 54c: 788–96.Google Scholar

Tuba, Z., Ötvös, E. & Sóvári, A. (2002). Studying the effects of elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide on lichens using Open Top Chambers. In Protocols in Lichenology, ed. Kranner, I., Beckett, R. P. & Varma, A. K., pp. 212–23. Berlin: Springer.CrossRef

Tuba, Z., Raschi, A., Lannini, G. M.et al. (2003). Vegetations with various environmental constraints under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. In Abiotic Stresses in Plants, ed. di Toppi, L. S. & Pawlik-Skowronska, B., pp. 157–204. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.CrossRef

Heijden, E., Verbeek, S. K. & Kuiper, P. J. C. (2000a). Elevated atmospheric CO2 and increased nitrogen deposition: effects on C and N metabolism and growth of the peat moss Sphagnum recurvum P. Beauv. var. mucronatum (Russ.) Warnst. Global Change Biology 6: 201–12.Google Scholar

Heijden, E., Jauhiainen, J., Silvola, J., Vasander, H. & Kuiper, P. J. C. (2000b). Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration and increased nitrogen deposition on growth and chemical composition of ombrotrophic Sphagnum balticum and oligo-mesotrophic Sphagnum papillosum. Journal of Bryology 22: 175–82.Google Scholar