A meta-analysis of responses of C 3 plants to atmospheric CO 2 : dose-response curves for 85 traits ranging from the molecular to the whole-plant level

Generalised dose-response curves are essential to understand how plants acclimate to atmospheric CO . We carried out a meta-analysis of 630 experiments in which C plants were experimentally grown at different [CO ] under relatively benign conditions, and derived dose-response curves for 85 phenotypi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe New phytologist Vol. 233; no. 4; pp. 1560 - 1596
Main Authors Poorter, Hendrik, Knopf, Oliver, Wright, Ian J, Temme, Andries A, Hogewoning, Sander W, Graf, Alexander, Cernusak, Lucas A, Pons, Thijs L
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 01.02.2022
Subjects
Carbon Dioxide
Photosynthesis - physiology
Plant Leaves - physiology
Plants
Reproducibility of Results
light intensity
acclimation
global change
meta-analysis
plasticity
reaction norm
dose-response curve
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Summary:Generalised dose-response curves are essential to understand how plants acclimate to atmospheric CO . We carried out a meta-analysis of 630 experiments in which C plants were experimentally grown at different [CO ] under relatively benign conditions, and derived dose-response curves for 85 phenotypic traits. These curves were characterised by form, plasticity, consistency and reliability. Considered over a range of 200-1200 µmol mol CO , some traits more than doubled (e.g. area-based photosynthesis; intrinsic water-use efficiency), whereas others more than halved (area-based transpiration). At current atmospheric [CO ], 64% of the total stimulation in biomass over the 200-1200 µmol mol range has already been realised. We also mapped the trait responses of plants to [CO ] against those we have quantified before for light intensity. For most traits, CO and light responses were of similar direction. However, some traits (such as reproductive effort) only responded to light, others (such as plant height) only to [CO ], and some traits (such as area-based transpiration) responded in opposite directions. This synthesis provides a comprehensive picture of plant responses to [CO ] at different integration levels and offers the quantitative dose-response curves that can be used to improve global change simulation models.
ISSN:0028-646X
1469-8137
DOI:10.1111/nph.17802