Differences between loblolly pine and ponderosa pine responses to elevated CO[sub 2] partitioned between biological and environmental factors

Conference · Wed Jun 01 04:00:00 EDT 1994 · Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States)

OSTI ID:7162090

Winner, W E ^[1]; Griffin, K L; Thomas, R B; Strain, B ^[2]; Ball, T ^[3]

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1. Oregon State Univ., Corvallis, OR (United States)
2. Duke Univ., Durham, NC (United States)
3. Desert Research Institute, Reno, NV (United States)

Loblolly pine raised at the North Carolina field site and Ponderosa pine raised at the California field site show differences in their capacity to grown and sequester carbon. The contrast in CO[sub 2] responses between species is related to both environmental differences between the field sites as well as biological differences between Loblolly and Ponderosa pine. We designed an experiment to isolate the biological differences between CO[sub 2] responses of the 2 test species by raising them in common environments at the Duke University Phytotron. Both pine species were raised for 160 days in either 35 Pa or 70 Pa CO[sub 2]. Plants were also raised at 3 levels of N since N is known to affect CO[sub 2] responses of plants. Seedlings were raised in 3.3 1 pots filled with sand irrigated each morning with 1/2 strength Hoaglands solution made with N supplied at NH[sub 4] at either 1 mm. 3.5 mm. or 7 mm. Root, stem, and foliar biomass, whole plant biomass, and leaf area were similar for both species across all CO[sub 2] and N treatments at the final harvest. Thus biological differences between pine species seem to be small and N is not the environmental factor accounting for differences in CO[sub 2] responses observed at the 2 field sites. Small biological differences between Loblolly and Ponderosa pine may be difficult to detect in experiments with seedlings, but scale to important differences between species as trees mature or when forest stands are considered.

• OSTI ID: 7162090
• Report Number(s): CONF-940894--
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America; (United States) Journal Volume: 75:2
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

560300* -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
BIOLOGICAL VARIABILITY
CARBON COMPOUNDS
CARBON DIOXIDE
CARBON OXIDES
CHALCOGENIDES
CONIFERS
ECOLOGICAL CONCENTRATION
GROWTH
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
PINES
PINOPHYTA
PLANT GROWTH
PLANTS
TREES