Maize is one of the major cultivated crops of China, having a central role in ensuring the food security of the country. There has been a significant increase in studies of maize under interactive effects of elevated CO2 concentration ([CO2]) and other factors, yet the interactive effects of elevated [CO2] and increasing precipitation on maize has remained unclear. In this study, a manipulative...

Increased root exudation and a related stimulation of rhizosphere-microbial growth have been hypothesised as possible explanations for a lower nitrogen(N-) nutritional status of plants grown under elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations, due to enhanced plantmicrobial N competition in the rhizosphere. Leguminous plants may be able to counterbalance the enhanced N requirement by increased symbio...

Decomposition of Quercus myrtifolia leaf litter in a Florida scrub oak community was followed for 3 years in two separate experiments. In the first experiment, we examined the effects CO2 and herbivore damage on litter quality and subsequent decomposition. Undamaged, chewed and mined litter generated under ambient and elevated (ambient1 350 ppm V) CO2 was allowed to decompose under ambient cond...

Growth and wood properties of 20-year-old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) trees were studied for 6 years in 16 closed chambers providing a factorial combination of two temperature regimes (ambient and elevated) and two carbon dioxide concentrations ([CO2]) (ambient and twice ambient). The elevation of temperature corresponded to the predicted effect at the site of a doubling in atmospheric [CO...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Elucidation of the mechanisms by which plants adapt to elevated CO2 is needed; however, most studies of the mechanisms investigated the response of plants adapted to current atmospheric CO2. The rapid respiration rate of cotton (Gossypium hirsutum) fruits (bolls) produces a concentrated CO2 microenvironment around the bolls and bracts. It has been observed that the intercell...

(FACE) facilities represents a substantial advance in experimental technology for studying ecosystem responses to elevated CO2. A challenge arising from the application of this technology is the utilization of short-term FACE results for predicting long-term ecosystem responses. This modeling study was designed to explore interactions of various processes on ecosystem productivity at elevated C...

Increases in tree biomass may be an important sink for CO2 as the atmospheric concentration continues to increase. Tree growth in temperate forests is often limited by the availability of soil nutrients. To assess whether soil nutrient limitation will constrain forest productivity under high atmospheric CO2, we studied the changes in forest litter production and nutrient cycling in a maturing s...

The capability of terrestrial ecosystems to sequester carbon (C) plays a critical role in regulating future climatic change yet depends on nitrogen (N) availability. To predict long-term ecosystem C storage, it is essential to examine whether soil N becomes progressively limiting as C and N are sequestered in long-lived plant biomass and soil organic matter. A critical parameter to indicate the...

Leymus chinensis is a dominant, rhizomatous perennial C3 species in the grasslands of Songnen Plain of Northern China, and its productivity has decreased year by year. To determine how productivity of this species responds to different precipitation regimes, elevated CO2 and their interaction in future, we measured photosynthetic parameters, along with the accumulation and partitioning of bioma...

Soil respiration of terrestrial ecosystems, a major component in the global carbon cycle is affected by elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. However, seasonal differences of feedback effects of elevated CO2 have rarely been studied. At the Gießen Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (GiFACE) site, the effects of +20 % above ambient CO2 concentration have been investigated since 1998 in a temperate grass...