Mexican beetle, Zygogramma bicolorata Pallister (Coleptera: Chrysomelidae) is a potential weed control biocontrol agent in Australia, India and other countries. Its grubs and adults feed on the leaves of parthenium weed, Parthenium hysterophorus and check the further growth of the plant. Experiments were conducted to understand host plant-mediated effects of elevated temperature and elevated CO2 on biocontrol agent Z. bicolorata. Food consumption, utilization, ecological efficiency and life-table parameters of Z. bicolorata were studied in grubs and adults stage up to diapause. Reduction of leaf nitrogen in parthenium weed foliage with a significant increase in carbon and C:N ratio was recorded at elevated CO2. Elevated CO2 and temperature had no effect on adult longevity before diapausing. Duration of egg's hatching, specific stages of grub and pupa of Z. bicolorata were significantly longer when beetles fed on leaves grown under elevated CO2 but these parameters decreased significantly on leaves grown under elevated temperature. Significantly high consumption rates with low growth and digestion conversions were observed under elevated CO2 and/or in coupled with elevated temperature. Elevated CO2 and temperature-grown parthenium weed foliage also had a significant effect on Z. bicolorata intrinsic rate of increase (R), finite rate of increase (λ), mean generation time (T), and gross reproductive rate. Changed quality of parthenium weed leaves in elevated CO2 and temperature levels resulted in the increase of consumption, slower food conversion rates, increase in developmental period with reduced reproduction efficiency of Z. bicolorata. Our results indicate that the reproduction efficiency of Z. bicolorata is likely to be reduced as the climate changes, despite increased feeding rates exhibited by grubs and adult beetles on parthenium weed foliage.

The temporal change in soil organic carbon (SOC) was analysed over an 80-year period based on climate change predictions of four regional circulation models under the International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) A1B emission scenario in the 21st century. A 20-year (1991–2010) set of observed climate data was used to form the baseline, and generate synthetic data for future scenario analyses. With increasing carbon dioxide (CO2) levels, and under continuous winter wheat production with conventional tillage at different nitrogen (N) input rates, three crop-soil models were used to study the temporal changes of SOC. Results indicated that soil carbon (C) generally decreased over the simulation period. In addition, increased N losses through leaching and denitrification were estimated. Decline in soil C under continuous mono-cropping systems indicated increased focus on N fertilization strategies. The results also suggested significant interactive effect of N input rate and climate variables on soil C and denitrification in response to climate change. The uncertainty was addressed by including the crop-soil models in a mixed-effect analysis so that the contribution of the models to the total variance of random variation was quantified. Statistical analysis showed that the crop-soil models are the main source for uncertainty in analysing soil C and N responses to climate change.

Dandelion is a cosmopolitan weed of economic and environmental significance because of its negative effects on crop yield and the large amount of herbicides used for its control in agricultural, residential, and recreational areas in North America. Asexual dandelion plants, which are apomictic and produce genetically identical seeds, provide a great experimental model for biological studies, such as examination of its reproductive responses to global environmental changes. In a growth chamber experiment, we investigated how elevated CO2 affected reproduction and seed dispersal properties in dandelion. Dandelion plants were grown at ambient (370 µmol mol−1) or elevated (730 µmol mol−1) CO2 until reproductive maturity. Results showed that dandelion plants examined in our study produced 83% more inflorescences and 32% more achenes, i.e., single-seed fruits, per plant at elevated than at ambient CO2. Seeds from elevated CO2-grown plants were significantly heavier and had a higher germination percentage, leading to larger seedlings and earlier establishment in the subsequent generation. Furthermore, achenes from plants grown at elevated CO2 had characteristics, such as higher stalks at seed maturity, longer beaks, and larger pappi, which would increase the distance of seed dispersal by wind. In addition to these elevated CO2-induced changes in reproductive properties, dandelion has a number of inherent characteristics, e.g., high competitiveness and adaptations to disturbance, that would increase its vegetative and reproductive success in a higher CO2 environment. Consequently, dandelion can potentially become more widespread and noxious as atmospheric CO2 continues to rise because of human activities.

Growth and reproductive potential with respect to season and photosynthetic gas exchange behavior under elevated (short-term) CO2 at varying temperature, relative humidity (RH), and irradiance levels were investigated in ragweed parthenium (also known as carrot grass and congress grass), a noxious weed in India. Lower values of biomass, relative growth rate, net assimilation rate, crop growth rate, leaf area duration, leaf area index, and numbers of flowers and seeds in winter compared with summer stands showed that ragweed parthenium is greatly suppressed by low temperatures during winter. This was due to constrained vegetative growth, seedling emergence, and seed to flower ratio. The species showed maximum photosynthetic response to temperature at 25 to 35 C, and the net photosynthetic rate was reduced considerably at a low temperature (7 C). These temperatures approximately corresponded to the normal temperatures experienced by summer (25–35 C) and winter (7 C) stands of ragweed parthenium. Elevated CO2 enhanced leaf net photosynthetic efficiency, maximum photosynthetic rate, and water use efficiency (WUE) but decreased the light compensation point for net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and transpiration rate. The interactive effects of elevated CO2 and temperature resulted in a decrease in light-limited and light-saturated net photosynthetic rates and WUE. The interactive effects also reduced an elevated CO2-induced decrease in light compensation point relative to elevated CO2 alone. Stomatal conductance was insensitive to photosynthetic photon flux but was greatly influenced by RH. Leaves of the species may show increasing rates of net photosynthesis with a rise in CO2 and temperature. However, excessive increase in transpiration with temperature, especially at 47 C (noon temperature during summer in the plains of northern India), appears to be disadvantageous for the leaves when conservation of water is of prime importance.

In this review, we discuss the potential for mycorrhizal fungi to act as a source or sink for carbon (C) under elevated CO2 and nitrogen deposition. Mycorrhizal tissue has been estimated to comprise a significant fraction of soil organic matter and below-ground biomass in a range of systems. The current body of literature indicates that in many systems exposed to elevated CO2, mycorrhizal fungi might sequester increased amounts of C in living, dead and residual hyphal biomass in the soil. Through this process, the fungi might serve as a negative feedback on the rise in atmospheric CO2 levels caused by fossil fuel burning and deforestation. By contrast, a few preliminary studies suggest that N deposition might increase turnover rates of fungal tissue and negate CO2 effects on hyphal biomass. If these latter responses are consistent among ecosystems, C storage in hyphae might decline in habitats surrounding agricultural and urban areas. When N additions occur without CO2 enrichment, effects on mycorrhizal growth are inconsistent. We note that analyses of hyphal decomposition under elevated CO2 and N additions are extremely sparse but are critical in our understanding of the impact of global change on the cycling of mycorrhizal C. Finally, shifts in the community composition of arbuscular and ectomycorrhizal fungi with increasing CO2 or N availability are frequently documented. Since mycorrhizal groups vary in growth rate and tissue quality, these changes in species assemblages could produce unforeseeable impacts on the productivity, survivorship, or decomposition of mycorrhizal biomass.

There is a growing recognition that accurate predictions of plant and ecosystem responses to global change require a better understanding of the mechanisms that control acquisition of growth-limiting resources. One such key mechanism is root physiological capacity to acquire nutrients. Changes in kinetics of root nitrogen (N) uptake might influence the extent to which terrestrial ecosystems will be able to sequester excesses in carbon (C) and N loads. Despite its significant role in determining plant and ecosystem cycling of C and N, there is little information on whether, or how, root nutrient uptake responds to global change. In this review various components of global change, namely increased CO2 concentration, increased soil temperature and increased atmospheric N deposition and their effects on kinetics of root nutrient uptake are examined. The response of root nutrient uptake kinetics to high CO2 is highly variable. Most of this variability might be attributable to differences in experimental protocols, but more recent evidence suggests that kinetic responses to high CO2 are also species-specific. This raises the possibility that elevated CO2 might alter community composition by shifting the competitive interaction of co-occurring species. Uptake of NH4+ and NO3− seem to be differentially sensitive to high CO2, which could influence ecosystem trajectory toward N saturation. Increased soil temperature might increase N and P uptake capacity to a greater extent in species from warm and fluctuating soil habitats than in species from cold and stable soil environments. The few available data also indicate that increased soil temperature elicits a differential effect on uptake of NH4+ versus NO3−. Root uptake kinetics are generally down-regulated in response to long-term exposure to atmospheric N deposition. The extent of this down-regulation might, however, vary among species, stages of succession, land-use history and plant demand. Nonetheless, it is suggested that root N uptake kinetics might be an accurate biological indicator of the ecosystem capacity to retain N. The results reviewed here clearly highlight the scanty nature of the literature in the area of root nutrient absorption responses to global change. It is also clear that effects of one component of global change on root nutrient absorption capacity might be counterbalanced by another. Therefore, the generalizations offered here must be viewed with caution and more effort should be directed to rigorously test these initial observations in future research.

Changes in the production and turnover of roots in forests and grasslands in response to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations, elevated temperatures, altered precipitation, or nitrogen deposition could be a key link between plant responses and longer-term changes in soil organic matter and ecosystem carbon balance. Here we summarize the experimental observations, ideas, and new hypotheses developed in this area in the rest of this volume. Three central questions are posed. Do elevated atmospheric CO2, nitrogen deposition, and climatic change alter the dynamics of root production and mortality? What are the consequences of root responses to plant physiological processes? What are the implications of root dynamics to soil microbial communities and the fate of carbon in soil? Ecosystem-level observations of root production and mortality in response to global change parameters are just starting to emerge. The challenge to root biologists is to overcome the profound methodological and analytical problems and assemble a more comprehensive data set with sufficient ancillary data that differences between ecosystems can be explained. The assemblage of information reported herein on global patterns of root turnover, basic root biology that controls responses to environmental variables, and new observations of root and associated microbial responses to atmospheric and climatic change helps to sharpen our questions and stimulate new research approaches. New hypotheses have been developed to explain why responses of root turnover might differ in contrasting systems, how carbon allocation to roots is controlled, and how species differences in root chemistry might explain the ultimate fate of carbon in soil. These hypotheses and the enthusiasm for pursuing them are based on the firm belief that a deeper understanding of root dynamics is critical to describing the integrated response of ecosystems to global change.

Root turnover is important to the global carbon budget as well as to nutrient cycling in ecosystems and to the success of individual plants. Our ability to predict the effects of environmental change on root turnover is limited by the difficulty of measuring root dynamics, but emerging evidence suggests that roots, like leaves, possess suites of interrelated traits that are linked to their life span. In graminoids, high tissue density has been linked to increased root longevity. Other studies have found root longevity to be positively correlated with mycorrhizal colonization and negatively correlated with nitrogen concentration, root maintenance respiration and specific root length. Among fruit trees, apple roots (which are of relatively small diameter, low tissue density and have little lignification of the exodermis) have much shorter life spans than the roots of citrus, which have opposite traits. Likewise, within the branched network of the fine root system, the finest roots with no daughter roots tend to have higher N concentrations, faster maintenance respiration, higher specific root length and shorter life spans than secondary and tertiary roots that bear daughter roots. Mycorrhizal colonization can enhance root longevity by diverse mechanisms, including enhanced tolerance of drying soil and enhanced defence against root pathogens. Many variables involved in building roots might affect root longevity, including root diameter, tissue density, N concentration, mycorrhizal fungal colonization and accumulation of secondary phenolic compounds. These root traits are highly plastic and are strongly affected by resource supply (CO2, N, P and water). Therefore the response of root longevity to altered resource availability associated with climate change can be estimated by considering how changes in resource availability affect root construction and physiology. A cost–benefit approach to predicting root longevity assumes that a plant maintains a root only until the efficiency of resource acquisition is maximized. Using an efficiency model, we show that reduced tissue Nconcentration and reduced root maintenance respiration, both of which are predicted to result from elevated CO2, should lead to slightly longer root life spans. Complex interactions with soil biota and shifts in plant defences against root herbivory and parasitism, which are not included in the present efficiency model, might alter the effects of future climate change on root longevity in unpredicted ways.

Growth responses of two provenances of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) were studied. The seedlings were grown in closed-top chambers at four temperature regimes (−2.9 °C below ambient, ambient, +2.3 °C and +4.8 °C above ambient) in combination with two CO2 partial pressures (40 Pa and 74 Pa). Growth was followed by making destructive harvests c. every 25 d from germination in early June to senescence in late September. Allocation patterns were significantly affected by the temperature regimes. However, changes in dry matter allocation and morphology associated with the different treatments at a given time were mostly a result of differences in tree size. Temperature regimes only had a significant effect on the relative growth rate, RGR, at the beginning of the experiment. In contrast to temperature, high [CO2] increased RGR throughout the experiment when compared with plants of equal size. As the trees increased in size net assimilation rate, NAR, decreased but the effect of [CO2] on both NAR and RGR had a tendency to increase. Increases in NAR caused by elevated [CO2] were partly counteracted by reductions in the leaf area ratio, LAR. Reductions in LAR were caused by concomitant reductions in specific leaf area, SLA, whereas the level of [CO2] did not significantly affect leaf weight ratio, LWR, nor other dry weight ratios. The interactions between temperature and [CO2] are highly dependent on whether they are expressed as instantaneous values for plants at a common age or instantaneous values at a common size (and thereby extracting the effects of ontogenetic drift). When comparing instantaneous values at common sizes, the positive effect of [CO2] on RGR increased with plant size in every temperature regime. This also occurred in every temperature regime when comparing plants of equal age but the response to [CO2] was less. The effect of [CO2] on RGR was dependent on growth temperature. The positive effects of elevated [CO2] on RGR were less than the positive effect on photosynthesis. The two provenances did not differ significantly in the response of RGR to [CO2] which is in agreement with measurements of photosynthesis.

The effects of mycorrhiza formation in combination with elevated CO2 concentrations on carbon metabolism of Norway spruce (Picea abies) seedlings and aspen (Populus tremula × Populus tremuloides) plantlets were analysed. Plants were inoculated for 6 wk with the ectomycorrhizal fungi Amanita muscaria and Paxillus involutus (aspen only) in an axenic Petri-dish culture at 350 and 700 μl l−1 CO2 partial pressure. After mycorrhiza formation, a stimulation of net assimilation rate was accompanied by decreased activities of sucrose synthase, an increased activation state of sucrose-phosphate synthase, decreased fructose-2,6-bisphosphate and starch, and slightly elevated glucose-6-phosphate contents in source leaves of both host species, independent of CO2 concentration. Exposure to elevated CO2 generally resulted in higher net assimilation rates, increased starch as well as decreased fructose-2,6-bisphosphate (aspen only) content in source leaves of both mycorrhizal and nonmycorrhizal plants. Our data indicate only slightly improved carbon utilization by mycorrhizal plants at elevated CO2. They demonstrate however, that both factors which modulate the sink-source properties of plants increase the capacity for sucrose synthesis in source leaves mainly by allosteric enzyme regulation.

Root growth and physiological responses to elevated CO2 were investigated for three important Mojave Desert grasses: the C3 perennial Achnatherum hymenoides, the C4 perennial Pleuraphis rigida and the C3 annual Bromus madritensis ssp. rubens. Seeds of each species were grown at ambient (360 μl l−1) or elevated (1000 μl l−1) CO2 in a glasshouse and harvested at three phenological stages: vegetative, anthesis and seed fill. Because P. rigida did not flower during the course of this study, harvests for this species represent three vegetative stages. Primary productivity was increased in both C3 grasses in response to elevated CO2 (40 and 19% for A. hymenoides and B. rubens, respectively), but root biomass increased only in the C3 perennial grass. Neither above-ground nor below-ground biomass of the C4 perennial grass was significantly affected by the CO2 treatment. Elevated CO2 did not significantly affect root surface area for any species. Total plant nitrogen was also not statistically different between CO2 treatments for any species, indicating no enhanced uptake of N under elevated CO2. Physiological uptake capacities for NO3 and NH4 were not affected by the CO2 treatment during the second harvest; measurements were not made for the first harvest. However, at the third harvest uptake capacity was significantly decreased in response to elevated CO2 for at least one N form in each species. NO3 uptake rates were lower in A. hymenoides and P. rigida, and NH4 uptake rates were lower in B. rubens at elevated CO2. Nitrogen uptake on a whole root-system basis (NO3+NH4 uptake capacity × root biomass) was influenced positively by elevated CO2 only for A. hymenoides after anthesis. These results suggest that elevated CO2 may result in a competitive advantage for A. hymenoides relative to species that do not increase root-system N uptake capacity. Root respiration measurements normalized to 20 °C were not significantly affected by the CO2 treatment. However, specific root respiration was significantly correlated with either root C[ratio ]N ratio or root water content when all data per species were included within a simple regression model. The results of this study provide little evidence for up-regulation of root physiology in response to elevated CO2 and indicate that root biomass responses to CO2 are species-specific.

Interactive effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 and soil N availability on N2 fixation and biomass production were examined using Gliricidia sepium, a tropical leguminous tree species. Our objective was to determine if elevated CO2 alters the inhibitory effects of soil N on N2 fixation, and whether the response of Gliricidia to elevated CO2 was a function of N source originating from either substrate N fertilizer or N2 fixation. We hypothesized that CO2 enrichment would ameliorate the inhibitory effects of N fertilization on seedling nodulation and N2 fixation through increased C partitioning to nodules. Seedlings were grown from seed for 100 d in growth chambers at either 350 or 700 μmol mol−1 CO2. Seedlings were inoculated with Rhizobium spp. and grown either with 0, 1 or 10 mM N fertilizer. The δ15N isotope-dilution technique was used to determine N source partitioning between N2 fixation and inorganic N fertilizer uptake. The addition of 10 mM N fertilizer significantly reduced nodule number and mass, specific nitrogenase activity, the specific rate of N2 fixation, and the proportion of plant N derived from N2 fixation. Elevated CO2, however, strongly ameliorated the inhibitory effects of N fertilization, indicating that increased C availability for nodule activity may partially offset the inhibition of N2 fixation caused by substrate N, as nodule sugar concentrations were stimulated with CO2 enrichment. This study clearly shows that elevated CO2 enhanced plant productivity and net N content of Gliricidia tree seedlings by stimulating N2 fixation. In addition, seedling biomass production was greatly enhanced by elevated CO2, regardless of whether plant N was derived from the substrate or from the atmosphere. We conclude from this study that CO2 enrichment mitigates the inhibitory effects of substrate N on nodule initiation and development and specific N2 fixation, either through increased C allocation to nodule production and activity, or through increased N demand by the plant for biomass production. This experiment with Gliricidia provides evidence for a positive feedback between increased atmospheric CO2 concentrations, C allocation to symbiotic N2-fixing bacteria, and plant C and N accumulation that may occur when N2-fixing plants are grown under conditions where substrate N may typically inhibit N2 fixation.

Photosynthetic rates of plants grown in natural systems exhibit diurnal patterns often characterized by an afternoon decline, even when measured under constant light and temperature conditions. Since we thought changes in the carbohydrate status could cause this pattern through feedback from starch and sucrose synthesis, we studied the natural fluctuations in photosynthesis rates of plants grown at 36 and 56 Pa CO2 at a FACE (free-air-CO2-enrichment) research site. Light-saturated photosynthesis varied by 40% during the day and was independent of the light-limited quantum yield of photosynthesis, which varied little through the day. Photosynthesis did not correspond with xylem water potential or leaf carbohydrate build-up, but rather with diurnal changes in air vapor-pressure deficit and light. The afternoon decline in photosynthesis also corresponded with decreased stomatal conductance and decreased Rubisco carboxylation efficiency which in turn allowed leaf-airspace CO2 partial pressure to remain constant. Growth at elevated CO2 did not affect the afternoon decline in photosynthesis, but did stimulate early-morning photosynthesis rates relative to the rest of the day. Plants grown at 56 Pa CO2 had higher light-limited quantum yields than those at 36 Pa CO2 but, there was no growth–CO2 effect on quantum yield when measured at 2 kPa O2. Therefore, understory plants have a high light-limited quantum yield that does not vary through the day. Thus, the major diurnal changes in photosynthesis occur under light-saturated conditions which may help understory saplings maximize their sunfleck-use-efficiency.

Physiological responses of two provenances of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) were studied in seedlings grown at two [CO2] in combination with four temperature treatments. For the local Danish provenance, the average effect of elevated [CO2] during growth was to increase light-saturated net photosynthesis (An) and instantaneous water-use efficiency or transpiration efficiency (ITE). These increases were strongly related to the temperature treatment. Stomatal conductance (gs) was reduced in seedlings in high [CO2], but there was no statistically significant effect of temperature treatment. Stomatal conductance was 13–26% lower at elevated [CO2] and ITE was 89–156% higher, depending on growth temperature. The effects of [CO2] on An were considerably larger than those shown for many other woody species, but similar to those in other studies on European beech. The absolute value of An for a Romanian provenance of beech was 5–18% lower than in the Danish provenance at low [CO2] and 14–26% lower at high [CO2]. There was no statistically significant interaction between the provenances and [CO2], or between provenance and temperature. A model of the response of An to [CO2] at different temperatures gave predictions close to the measured results, except at the lowest temperature treatment where the model over-predicted the effect of elevated [CO2]. This and measurements of An made at a common, low [CO2] indicated a down-regulation of photosynthesis in the lowest temperature treatment at high [CO2]. Root plus soil respiration on a whole-tree basis (Rtr) was increased by elevated [CO2] at all but the lowest temperature, but no effect was seen of [CO2] on root respiration per unit root d. wt. Mean Rtr on any given date was significantly correlated with An, except at the lowest temperature treatment. It is hypothesized that low temperature limited the ability of the roots to use photosynthates resulting in a feedback inhibition of An when elevated [CO2] was combined with low temperature.

Young trees of European beech (Fagus sylvatica) acclimated for one growing season to ambient (c. 367 μl l−1) or elevated CO2 levels (c. 660 μl l−1) were exposed during the subsequent year to combinations of the same CO2 regimes and ambient or twice-ambient ozone (O3) levels (generated from the database of a rural site). By the end of June, before the development of macroscopic leaf injury, the raised O3 levels had not affected the light and dark reactions of photosynthesis. However, acclimation to elevated CO2 had resulted in lowered chlorophyll and nitrogen concentrations, whereas photosynthetic performance, examined over a wide range of parameters from light and dark reactions, remained unchanged or showed only slight reductions (e.g. apparent electron transport rate, ETR; apparent quantum yield of CO2 gas exchange, ΦCO2; apparent carboxylation efficiency, CE; and photosynthetic capacity at light and CO2 saturation, PC). In August, after the appearance of leaf necroses, plants grown under ambient CO2 and twice-ambient O3 conditions declined in both the photosynthetic light reactions (optimum electron quantum yield, Fv/Fm, non-photochemical energy quenching, NPQ, reduction state of QA, apparent electron quantum yield, ΦPSII, maximum electron transport rates) and the dark reactions as reflected by CE, ΦCO2, as well as the maximum CO2 uptake rate (i.e. PC). CE, ΦCO2 and PC were reduced by c. 75, 40 and 75%, respectively, relative to plants exposed to ambient CO2 and O3 levels. By contrast, plants exposed to twice-ambient O3 and elevated CO2 levels maintained a photosynthetic performance similar to individuals grown either under ambient CO2 and ambient O3, or elevated CO2 and ambient O3 conditions. The long-term exposure to elevated CO2 therefore tended to counteract adverse chronic effects of enhanced O3 levels on photosynthesis. Possible reasons for this compensatory effect in F. sylvatica are discussed.

The responses to CO2 of perennial grasses (Danthonia richardsonii and Phalaris aquatica) and legumes (Lotus pedunculatus and Trifolium repens) were compared under controlled conditions for isolated plants, monoculture stands and mixed-species stands along a N gradient to test whether: plant–plant interactions between species in mixed stands changed with concentration of CO2; responses to CO2 of species in mixtures could be related to their responses as single stands; responses of mixtures to CO2 could be related to the responses of individual species to CO2 and to competition. Plants were grown for 60 d in sand, using nutrient solutions (six nitrate concentrations from 0.25 to 16 mM NO3), at ambient (c. 357 μl l−1) or elevated CO2 (c. 712 μl l−1). Species dominance in the mixtures depended more on the range of N than of CO2 concentration provided: T. repens and L. pedunculatus dominated at low concentrations of N; L. pedunculatus and P. aquatica performed better at high concentrations. Responses of species in mixtures to CO2 were related to their responses in monocultures but not to those of isolated plants. Species biomass proportions in mixtures under ambient CO2 determined the outcome of mixture responses to CO2 more than of individual species responses to CO2. These results emphasize the influence of plant–plant interactions on community responses to CO2, since mixture behaviour under elevated CO2 could not be scaled-up from responses by isolated plants in this experiment.

Genotypic variability was studied in two Mediterranean grass species, Bromus erectus and Dactylis glomerata, with regard to the response to CO2 of leaf total non-structural carbohydrate concentration ([TNC]lf), specific leaf area (SLA), and leaf carbon and nitrogen concentrations ([C]lf and [N]lf, respectively). Fourteen genotypes of each species were grown together on intact soil monoliths at ambient and elevated CO2 concentrations (350 and 700 μmol mol−1, respectively). In both species, the most consistent effect of elevated CO2 was an increase in [TNC]lf and a decrease in leaf nitrogen concentration when expressed either as total dry mass [Nm]lf, structural dry mass [Nmst]lf or leaf area [Na]lf. The SLA decreased only in D. glomerata, due to an accumulation of total non-structural carbohydrates and to an increase in leaf density. No genotypic variability was found for any variable in B. erectus, suggesting that genotypes responded in a similar way to elevated CO2. In D. glomerata, a genotypic variability was found only for [Cst], [Nm]lf, [Nmst]lf and [Na]lf. Since [Nm]lf is related to plant growth and is a strong determinant of plant–herbivore interactions, our results suggest evolutionary consequences of elevated CO2 through competitive interactions or herbivory.

Interactive effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi on biomass production and N2 fixation were investigated using black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia). Seedlings were grown in growth chambers maintained at either 350 μmol mol−1 or 710 μmol mol−1 CO2. Seedlings were inoculated with Rhizobium spp. and were grown with or without AM fungi. The 15N isotope dilution method was used to determine N source partitioning between N2 fixation and inorganic fertilizer uptake. Elevated atmospheric CO2 significantly increased the percentage of fine roots that were colonized by AM fungi. Mycorrhizal seedlings grown under elevated CO2 had the greatest overall plant biomass production, nodulation, N and P content, and root N absorption. Additionally, elevated CO2 levels enhanced nodule and root mass production, as well as N2 fixation rates, of non- mycorrhizal seedlings. However, the relative response of biomass production to CO2 enrichment was greater in non-mycorrhizal seedlings than in mycorrhizal seedlings. This study provides strong evidence that arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi play an important role in the extent to which plant nutrition of symbiotic N2-fixing tree species is affected by enriched atmospheric CO2.

Eragrostis pilosa (Linn.) P Beauv., a C4 grass native to east Africa, was grown at both ambient (350 μmol mol−1 and elevated (700 μmol mol−1) CO2 in either the presence or absence of the obligate, root hemi-parasite Striga hermonthica (Del.) Benth. Biomass of infected grasses was only 50% that of uninfected grasses at both CO2 concentrations, with stems and reproductive tissues of infected plants being most severely affected. By contrast, CO2 concentration had no effect on growth of E. pilosa, although rates of photosynthesis were enhanced by 30–40% at elevated CO2. Infection with S. hermonthica did not affect either rates of photosynthesis or leaf areas of E. pilosa, but did bring about an increase in root[ratio ]shoot ratio, leaf nitrogen and phosphorus concentration and a decline in leaf starch concentration at both ambient and elevated CO2. Striga hermonthica had higher rates of photosynthesis and shoot concentrations of soluble sugars at elevated CO2, but there was no difference in biomass relative to ambient grown plants. Both infection and growth at elevated CO2 resulted in an increase in the Δ13C value of leaf tissue of E. pilosa, with the CO2 effect being greater. The proportion of host-derived carbon in parasite tissue, as determined from δ13C values, was 27% and 39% in ambient and elevated CO2 grown plants, respectively. In conclusion, infection with S. hermonthica limited growth of E. pilosa, and this limitation was not removed or alleviated by growing the association at elevated CO2.

Northern red oak in the western Lake States area of the USA exists on the most xeric edge of its distribution range. Future climate-change scenarios for this area predict decreased water availability along with increased atmospheric CO2. We examined recent photosynthate distribution and growth in seedlings as a function of CO2 mole fraction (400, 530 and 700 μmol mol−1 CO2), water regime (well watered and water-stressed), and ontogenic stage. Water stress effects on growth were largely offset by elevated CO2.

Water stress increased root mass ratio without concurrently increasing allocation of recent photosynthate to the roots. However, apparent sink strength of water-stressed seedlings at the completion of the third growth stage tended to be greater than that of well watered seedlings, as shown by continued high export, which may contribute carbon reserves to support preferential root growth under water-stressed conditions.

Elevated CO2 decreased apparent shoot sink strength associated with the rapid expansion of the third flush. Carbon resources for the observed enhanced growth under elevated CO2 could be provided by enhanced photosynthetic rate over an increased leaf area (Anderson & Tomlinson, 1998, this volume).

Increased sink strength of LG seedlings under water-stressed conditions, together with decreased apparent shoot sink strength associated with growth in elevated CO2 provide mechanisms for offsetting water stress effects by growth in elevated CO2.

Careful control of ontogeny was necessary to discern these changes and provides further evidence of the need for such careful control in mechanistic studies.