Soil- and Plant-Water Dynamics in a C3/C4 grassland exposed to a Subambient to superambient CO2 Gradient

Authors

H. Wayne Polley, USDA-ARSFollow
Hyrum B. Johnson
Justin D. Derner, USDA-ARSFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2002

Comments

Published in Global Change Biology (2002) 8, 1118-1129.

Abstract

Plants may be more sensitive to carbon dioxide (CO₂) enrichment at subambient concentrations than at superambient concentrations, but field tests are lacking. We measured soil-water content and determined xylem pressure potentials and δ¹³C values of leaves of abundant species in a C3/C4 grassland exposed during 1997-1999 to a continuous gradient in atmospheric CO₂ spanning superambient concentrations (200-560 µmol mol^-1).