Structure and composition of a Mediterranean grassland community grown under Free-Air CO2 Enrichment (MiniFACE)

• Published in: Community ecology Vol. 9; no. Suppl 1; pp. 141 - 151
• Main Authors: Raschi, A., Tognetti, R., Lanini, M., Marchi, S., Baronti, S., Selvi, F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 2008
• Subjects: Animal Ecology; Biodiversity; Community & Population Ecology; Life Sciences; Marine & Freshwater Sciences; Microbial Ecology; Plant Ecology; Floristic diversity; Elevated CO; Water stress; Mediterranean environment; Plant phenology; FACE systems
• ISSN: 1585-8553; 1588-2756
• DOI: 10.1556/ComEc.9.2008.S.19

Amongst all terrestrial ecosystems, the productivity of Mediterranean-type ecosystems has been suggested to be one of the most responsive to increasing atmospheric CO 2 . The extent to which this prediction holds will depend in part on plant responses to elevated CO 2 under the highly variable conditions characteristic of semiarid regions. Structure and composition responses of a semi-natural grassland community to a step-increase in atmospheric CO 2 (to about 580 μmol mol -1 ) were examined in the field using Free-Air CO 2 Enrichment (FACE) under seasonally varying moisture conditions. The limited production response to elevated concentrations of atmospheric CO 2 of this grassland community was counterbalanced by the effect on the phenology of many species. These findings suggest that predictions regarding Mediterranean plant responses to elevated CO 2 should account for seasonal patterns of production regulatory responses, which may vary across species and plant functional types.