Does leaf dark respiration of alpine and lowland plants acclimate to temperature?
- Univ. of Basal (Switzerland)
Acclimation to temperature is a missing link in current efforts to predict the effects of global warming on plant communities. We asked these questions: (1) Does leaf dark respiration acclimate to a change in temperature and (2) is there a difference in acclimation between alpine and lowland plants? Nineteen alpine and corresponding lowland species collected in Switzerland were grown at 10 and 20{degrees}C for five weeks. Night-time leaf dark respiration rates were measured at the respective growth temperatures. There was a great variety of acclimation patterns among plants ranging from full to no acclimation. Full acclimation to temperature, defined as the equality between respiration measured at 20{degrees}C of plants grown at 20{degrees}C and respiration measured at 10{degrees}C of plants grown at 10{degrees}C, occurred in only 2 out of 19 species. Acclimation did not depend on the origin (alpine or lowland) of the plant, but rather on the genus of the plant. We conclude that predictions at the community level cannot be made based on single species because of the variety observed in the responses.
- OSTI ID:
- 95830
- Report Number(s):
- CONF-9507129-; ISSN 0012-9623; TRN: 95:004728-0095
- Journal Information:
- Bulletin of the Ecological Society of America, Vol. 76, Issue 2; Conference: 80. anniversary of the transdisciplinary nature of ecology, Snowbird, UT (United States), 30 Jul - 3 Aug 1995; Other Information: PBD: Jun 1995
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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