The magnitude and frequency of climatic extremes, such as drought, are predicted to increase under future climate change conditions. However, little is known about how other factors such as CO2 concentration will modify plant community responses to these extreme climatic events, even though such modifications are highly likely. We asked whether the response of grasslands to repeat extreme droug...

To study the responses of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.), a commercially important tree species in Europe, to future increases in atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]), we grew saplings for 4 years in the ground in open-top chambers in ambient or ambient + 400 micromol mol(-1) CO2, without supplemental addition of nutrients and water. Carbon (C) budgets were developed for trees in both CO2 tr...

In modern cotton production systems, potassium (K) deficiency is one of the major factors limiting lint yield and affecting fiber quality. Although influence of K deficiency on cotton plant physiology and growth and lint yield responses to K fertilizer applications have received intensive studies, it is not clear whether elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration [CO2] affects plant requirements an...

Six open-top chambers were installed on the shortgrass steppe in north-eastern Colorado, USA from late March until mid-October in 1997 and 1998 to evaluate how this grassland will be affected by rising atmospheric CO2. Three chambers were maintained at current CO2 concentration (ambient treatment), three at twice ambient CO2, or approximately 720 mmol mol (elevated treatment), and three noncham...

A number of studies have shown that elevated atmospheric CO2 ([CO2]) affects rice yields and grain quality. However, the responses of root-associated bacteria to [CO2] elevation have not been characterized in a large-scale field study. We conducted a free-air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiment (ambient + 200 μmol.mol(-1)) using three rice cultivars (Akita 63, Takanari, and Koshihikari) and two ex...

Elevated levels of CO2 and temperature can both affect plant growth and development, but the signalling pathways regulating these processes are still obscure. MicroRNAs function to silence gene expression, and environmental stresses can alter their expressions. Here we identify, using the small RNA-sequencing method, microRNAs that change significantly in expression by either doubling the atmos...

Using controlled environmental growth chambers, whole plants of soybean, cv. ‘Clark’, were examined during early development (7–20 days after sowing) at both ambient (μ 350 μL L–1) and elevated (μ 700 μL L–1) carbon dioxide and a range of air temperatures (20, 25, 30, and 35 °C) to determine if future climatic change (temperature or CO2 concentration) could alter the ratio of carbon lost by dar...

Terrestrial ecosystems consist of mutually dependent producer and decomposer subsystems, but not much is known on how their interactions are modified by plant diversity and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations. Factorially manipulating grassland plant species diversity and atmospheric CO2 concentrations for five years, we tested whether high diversity or elevated CO2 sustain larger or more a...

Rising atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration and temperaturewill influence photosynthesis, growth andyield of agronomic crops.To investigate effects of elevatedCO2andhigh temperature on leaf gas exchanges, activities of Rubisco and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC) and growth of grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolorL.Moench), plants were grown in controlled environments at day-time maxim...

Predictions suggest that current crop production needs to double by 2050 to meet global food and energy demands. Based on theory and experimental studies, overexpression of the photosynthetic enzyme sedoheptulose-1,7-bisphosphatase (SBPase) is expected to enhance C3 crop photosynthesis and yields. Here we test how expression of the cyanobacterial, bifunctional fructose-1,6/sedoheptulose-1,7-bis...