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The effect of carbon dioxide enrichment on apparent stem respiration from Pinus taeda L. is confounded by high levels of soil carbon dioxide

  • Physiological Ecology - Original Paper
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Abstract

Respiration supports growth and maintenance processes and returns a substantial portion of the CO2 fixed by photosynthesis to the atmosphere each year. Investigating stem respiration using CO2 flux measurements is complicated by uncertainty surrounding the source of CO2 diffusing from tree stems. Over 2 years we measured the stem efflux from 24 trees exposed to ambient or elevated CO2. The rate of stem CO2 efflux increased with annual tree diameter increment and the estimated uptake of dissolved CO2 from the soil. To determine the source of CO2 diffusing from tree stems, we used the fumigation gas at the Duke Forest Atmosphere Carbon Transfer and Storage-1 elevated-CO2 experiment as a 13C tracer and measured the presence of soil CO2 in stem efflux on a subset of these trees. The isotopic composition of soil CO2 explained a considerable portion of the variation in the composition of CO2 in stem efflux. We also found that direct measurements of the isotopic composition of phloem-respired CO2, unlike the CO2 found in stem efflux, was less variable and distinct from the isotopic composition of soil CO2. Tree growth rates and soil CO2 concentrations found at the site together explained 56% of the variance in stem CO2 efflux among trees. These results suggest that the uptake of CO2 dissolved in soil water and transported through the vascular system can potentially confound efforts to interpret stem efflux measurements in trees exposed to elevated CO2 and that previous studies may have overestimated the effects of elevated CO2 on autotrophic respiration in tree stems.

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Acknowledgements

This research was supported by the Office of Science BER Program, US Department of Energy with additional support by grants from TECO-DOE (DE-FG05-95ER62083), NASA (TE/97-20024), and NSF-IOB (0528069). We gratefully acknowledge G. R. Hendrey, K. F. Lewin, J. Nagy, A. Palmiotti, G. Hon, R. LaMorte, A. Mace, and R. Nettles (Brookhaven National Laboratory), and S. Oleynik (UIC) for logistical support. We thank J. Edeburn and the staff of the Duke Forest for operational support at the field site. Statistical advice and comments on earlier drafts of this manuscript by S. Long, F. S. Hu, F. Miguez, A. Leakey, R. Gallery, R. Knepp, M. Prater, O. Dermody, E. Ainsworth, J. Tang, M. Aldea, A. Malmberg, J. Hu and R. Oren were greatly appreciated. This research was carried out in compliance with the laws of the United States of America.

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  1. David J. P. Moore

    Present address: Department of Geography, King’s College London, Strand, London, WC2R 2LS, UK

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Program in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL, 61801, USA

    David J. P. Moore

  2. Department of Biology, University of Illinois at Chicago, West Taylor Street, Chicago, IL, 60612, USA

    Miquel A. Gonzalez-Meler & Lina Taneva

  3. Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Jeffrey S. Pippen & Hyun-Seok Kim

  4. Department of Plant Biology and Institute of Genomic Biology, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, Illinois, 61801, USA

    Evan H. DeLucia

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  1. David J. P. Moore
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Correspondence to Evan H. DeLucia.

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Communicated by Rowan Sage.

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Moore, D.J.P., Gonzalez-Meler, M.A., Taneva, L. et al. The effect of carbon dioxide enrichment on apparent stem respiration from Pinus taeda L. is confounded by high levels of soil carbon dioxide. Oecologia 158, 1–10 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-008-1118-7

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