[A field study of the effects of elevated CO2 concentration on physiology an ecosystem processes in Chesapeake Bay Wetland]. [Annual] progress report, 1989--1990
Research during 1988--1989 focused on several new aspects of the response of the salt marsh ecosystem to elevated CO{sub 2} of the effect of CO{sub 2} on biomass production into above and belowground tissues, nitrogen content, light response of photosynthesis of single leaves, leaf water potential and carbon dioxide and water vapor exchange between the plant canopy and the ambient air. Result from the work in 87 and 88 had shown that the C{sub 3} plant, Scirpus olneyi, responded vigorously to elevated CO{sub 2} but the two C{sub 4} species, Spartina patens and Distichlis spicata did not. The responses of photosynthesis were also reflected in the canopy and ecosystem processes: Carbon accumulated in the C{sub 3} community into belowground tissues but not in the C{sub 4} community suggesting that the main factor in the ecosystem responses would be photosynthesis and that the environmental controls on this process would determine the long-term ecosystem responses to rising CO{sub 2}. The main question at the outset of this project was: How much more carbon will be accumulated in the salt marsh ecosystem in a high CO{sub 2} atmosphere than is being accumulated under present CO{sub 2} concentration? This experiment has raised the possibility that rising CO{sub 2} will make the salt marsh ecosystem a bigger sink for carbon than we have previously thought it to be. By extrapolation, this finding suggests that other, terrestrial ecosystems may also become larger sinks for carbon.
- Research Organization:
- Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG05-85ER60374
- OSTI ID:
- 10102302
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/ER/60374--T4; ON: DE93019595
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Effects of elevated CO/sub 2/ on canopy gas exchange in a Chesapeake Bay salt marsh. [Spartina patens; Scirpus olneyi; Distichlis spicata]
Elevated atmospheric CO sub 2 effects on belowground processes in C sub 3 and C sub 4 estuarine marsh communities. [S. Spartina]
Related Subjects
140505
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540210
560300
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BASIC STUDIES
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON SINKS
CHEMICALS METABOLISM AND TOXICOLOGY
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
PHOTOCHEMICAL, PHOTOBIOLOGICAL, AND THERMOCHEMICAL CONVERSION
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
PLANT GROWTH
PROGRESS REPORT
RESPIRATION
TERRESTRIAL ECOSYSTEMS