Three new methods indicate that CO2 concentration affects plant respiration in the range relevant to global change.

Abstract

Short-term responses of plant dark respiration to carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) in the range anticipated in the atmosphere with global change remain controversial, primarily because it is difficult to convincingly eliminate the many possible sources of experimental error in measurements of carbon dioxide or oxygen exchange rates. Plant dark respiration is a major component of the carbon balance of many ecosystems. In seedlings without senescent tissue, the rate of loss of dry mass during darkness indicates the rate of respiration. This method of measuring respiration was used to test for [CO2] effects on respiration in seedlings of three species with relatively large seeds. The time it took respiration to exhaust substrates and cause seedling death in darkness was used as an indicator of respiration rate in four other species with smaller seeds. The third method was measuring rates of CO2 exchange in excised petioles sealed in a cuvette submerged in water to prevent leaks. Petioles were utilized as the plant tissue type with the most reliable rates of respiration, for excised tissue. The rate of loss of dry mass in the dark decreased with increasing [CO2] in the range of 200-800 μmol mol-1 in all three large-seeded species. The seedling survival time in the dark increased with [CO2] in the same concentration range in all four of the smaller-seeded species. Respiration rates of excised petioles of several species also decreased over this [CO2] range. The data provide new evidence that the rate of dark respiration in plant tissue often decreases with increasing [CO2] in the 200-800 μmol mol-1 range.