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Environmental and Stress Physiology

Effect of the Long-Term Elevation of CO₂ Concentration in the Field on the Quantum Yield of Photosynthesis of the C₃ Sedge, Scirpus olneyi ¹

Department of Biology, University of Essex, Colchester, CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom, Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Edgewater, Maryland 21037

CO₂ concentration was elevated throughout 3 years around stands of the C₃ sedge Scirpus olneyi on a tidal marsh of the Chesapeake Bay. The hypothesis that tissues developed in an elevated CO₂ atmosphere will show an acclimatory decrease in photosynthetic capacity under light-limiting conditions was examined. The absorbed light quantum yield of CO₂ uptake (ø_abs and the efficiency of photosystem II photochemistry were determined for plants which had developed in open top chambers with CO₂ concentrations in air of 680 micromoles per mole, and of 351 micromoles per mole as controls. An Ulbricht sphere cuvette incorporated into an open gas exchange system was used to determine ø_abs and a portable chlorophyll fluorimeter was used to estimate the photochemical efficiency of photosystem II. When measured in an atmosphere with 10 millimoles per mole O₂ to suppress photorespiration, shoots showed a ø_abs of 0.093 ± 0.003, with no statistically significant difference between shoots grown in elevated or control CO₂ concentrations. Efficiency of photosystem II photochemistry was also unchanged by development in an elevated CO₂ atmosphere. Shoots grown and measured in 680 micromoles per mole of CO₂ in air showed a ø_abs of 0.078 ± 0.004 compared with 0.065 ± 0.003 for leaves grown and measured in 351 micromoles per mole CO₂ in air; a highly significant increase. In accordance with the change in ø_abs, the light compensation point of photosynthesis decreased from 51 ± 3 to 31 ± 3 micro-moles per square meter per second for stems grown and measured in 351 and 680 micromoles per mole of CO₂ in air, respectively. The results suggest that even after 3 years of growth in elevated CO₂, there is no evidence of acclimation in capacity for photosynthesis under light-limited conditions which would counteract the stimulation of photosynthetic CO₂ uptake otherwise expected through decreased photorespiration.

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