Final published version
Licence: CC BY: Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - CO2 availability influences hydraulic function of C3 and C4 grass leaves
AU - Taylor, Samuel
AU - Aspinwall, Michael J.
AU - Blackman, Chris J.
AU - Choat, Brendan
AU - Tissue, David T.
AU - Ghannoum, Oula
PY - 2018/4/27
Y1 - 2018/4/27
N2 - Atmospheric CO2 (ca) has increased since the last glacial period, increasing photosynthetic water use efficiency and improving plant productivity. Evolution of C4 photosynthesis at low ca led to decreased stomatal conductance (gs), which provided an advantage over C3 plants that may be reduced by rising ca. Using controlled environments, we determined how increasing ca affects C4 water use relative to C3 plants. Leaf gas exchange and mass per area (LMA) were measured for four C3 and four C4 annual, crop-related grasses at glacial (200), ambient (400), and super-ambient (640 µmol mol−1) ca. C4 plants had lower gs, which resulted in a water use efficiency advantage at all ca and was broadly consistent with slower stomatal responses to shade, indicating less pressure on leaf water status. At glacial ca, A and LMA were lower for C3 than C4 leaves, and C3 and C4 grasses decreased leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) similarly, but only C4 leaves decreased osmotic potential at turgor-loss. Greater carbon availability in C4 leaves at glacial ca generated different hydraulic adjustment relative to C3 plants. At current and future ca, C4 grasses have advantages over C3 grasses due to lower gs, lower stomatal sensitivity, and higher absolute water use efficiency.
AB - Atmospheric CO2 (ca) has increased since the last glacial period, increasing photosynthetic water use efficiency and improving plant productivity. Evolution of C4 photosynthesis at low ca led to decreased stomatal conductance (gs), which provided an advantage over C3 plants that may be reduced by rising ca. Using controlled environments, we determined how increasing ca affects C4 water use relative to C3 plants. Leaf gas exchange and mass per area (LMA) were measured for four C3 and four C4 annual, crop-related grasses at glacial (200), ambient (400), and super-ambient (640 µmol mol−1) ca. C4 plants had lower gs, which resulted in a water use efficiency advantage at all ca and was broadly consistent with slower stomatal responses to shade, indicating less pressure on leaf water status. At glacial ca, A and LMA were lower for C3 than C4 leaves, and C3 and C4 grasses decreased leaf hydraulic conductance (Kleaf) similarly, but only C4 leaves decreased osmotic potential at turgor-loss. Greater carbon availability in C4 leaves at glacial ca generated different hydraulic adjustment relative to C3 plants. At current and future ca, C4 grasses have advantages over C3 grasses due to lower gs, lower stomatal sensitivity, and higher absolute water use efficiency.
KW - C4 photosynthesis
KW - glacial CO2
KW - grasses
KW - leaf gas exchange
KW - leaf hydraulic conductance
KW - osmotic adjustment
KW - pressure-volume curve
KW - stomatal conductance
KW - turgor loss point
U2 - 10.1093/jxb/ery095
DO - 10.1093/jxb/ery095
M3 - Journal article
VL - 69
SP - 2731
EP - 2741
JO - Journal of Experimental Botany
JF - Journal of Experimental Botany
SN - 0022-0957
IS - 10
ER -