Temperature Responses of Photosynthesis and Respiration of Maize (Zea mays) Plants to Experimental Warming

Abstract

Understanding the key processes and mechanisms of photosynthetic and respiratory acclimation of maize (Zea mays L.) plants in response to experimental warming may further shed lights on the changes in the carbon exchange and Net Primary Production (NPP) of agricultural ecosystem in a warmer climate regime. In the current study, we examined the temperature responses and sensitivity of foliar photosynthesis and respiration for exploring the mechanisms of thermal acclimation associated with physiological and biochemical processes in the North China Plain (NCP) with a field manipulative warming experiment. We found that thermal acclimation of An as evidenced by the upward shift of An-T was determined by the maximum velocity of Rubisco carboxylation (Vcmax), the maximum rate of electron transport (Jmax), and the stomatal- regulated CO2 diffusion process (gs), while the balance between respiration and photosynthesis (Rd/Ag), and/or regeneration of RuBP and the Rubisco carboxylation (Jmax/Vcmax) barely affected the thermal acclimation of An. We also found that the temperature response and sensitivity of Rd was closely associated with the changes in foliar N concentration induced by warming. These results suggest that the leaf-level thermal acclimation of photosynthesis and respiration may mitigate or even offset the negative impacts on maize from future climate warming, which should be considered to improve the accuracy of process-based ecosystem models under future climate warming.