Functional diversity and climate change: effects on the invasibility of macroalgal assemblages

Climate-driven and biodiversity effects on the structure and functioning of ecosystems are increasingly studied as multiple stressors, which subsequently may influence species invasions. We used a mesocosm experiment to test how increases in temperature and CO₂ partial pressure (pCO₂) interact with functional diversity of resident macroalgal assemblages and affect the invasion success of the non-indigenous macroalga Sargassum muticum. Early settlement of S. muticum germlings was assessed in the laboratory under common environmental conditions across three monocultures and a polyculture of functional groups of native macroalgae, which had previously grown for 3 weeks under crossed treatments of temperature and pCO₂. Functional diversity was a key driver shaping early settlement of the invader, with significant identity and richness effects: higher settlement occurred in low-diversity and low-stature assemblages, even after accounting for treatment biomass. Overall, early survivorship of settled germlings responded to an interaction of temperature and pCO₂ treatments, with survivorship enhanced in one treatment (high pCO₂ at ambient Temperature) after 3 days, and reduced in another (ambient pCO₂ at high Temperature) after 10 days, although size was enhanced in this same treatment. After 6 months in the field, legacy effects of laboratory treatments remained, with S. muticum reaching higher cover in most assemblages previously subjected to ambient pCO₂, but ephemeral green algae appearing disproportionately after elevated-pCO₂ treatment. These results caution that invasion outcomes may change at multiple points in the life cycle under higher-CO₂, higher-temperature conditions, in addition to supporting a role for intact, functionally diverse assemblages in limiting invader colonization.     

Mycorrhizas and global environmental change: research at different scales

Global environmental change (GEC), in particular rising atmospheric CO₂ concentration and temperature, will affect most ecosystems. The varied responses of plants to these aspects of GEC are well documented. As with other key below-ground components of terrestrial ecosystems, the response of the ubiquitous mycorrhizal fungal root symbionts has received limited attention. Most of the research on the effects of GEC on mycorrhizal fungi has been pot-based with a few field (especially monoculture) studies. A major question that arises in all these studies is whether the GEC effects on the mycorrhizal fungi are independent of the effects on their plant hosts. We evaluate the current knowledge on the effects of elevated CO₂ and increased temperature on mycorrhizal fungi and focus on the few available field examples. The value of using long-term and large-scale field experiments is emphasised. We conclude that the laboratory evidence to date shows that the effect of elevated CO₂ on mycorrhizal fungi is dependent on plant growth and that temperature effects seen in the past might have reflected a similar dependence. Therefore, how temperature directly affects mycorrhizal fungi remains unknown. In natural ecosystems, we predict that GEC effects on mycorrhizal fungal communities will be strongly mediated by the effects on plant communities to the extent that community level interactions will prove to be the key mechanism for determining GEC-induced changes in mycorrhizal fungal communities.     

Effect of Elevated pCO2 on Metabolic Responses of Porcelain Crab (Petrolisthes cinctipes) Larvae Exposed to Subsequent Salinity Stress

Future climate change is predicted to alter the physical characteristics of oceans and estuaries, including pH, temperature, oxygen, and salinity. Investigating how species react to the influence of such multiple stressors is crucial for assessing how future environmental change will alter marine ecosystems. The timing of multiple stressors can also be important, since in some cases stressors arise simultaneously, while in others they occur in rapid succession. In this study, we investigated the effects of elevated pCO₂ on oxygen consumption by larvae of the intertidal porcelain crab Petrolisthes cinctipes when exposed to subsequent salinity stress. Such an exposure mimics how larvae under future acidified conditions will likely experience sudden runoff events such as those that occur seasonally along portions of the west coast of the U.S. and in other temperate systems, or how larvae encounter hypersaline waters when crossing density gradients via directed swimming. We raised larvae in the laboratory under ambient and predicted future pCO₂ levels (385 and 1000 µatm) for 10 days, and then moved them to seawater at ambient pCO₂ but with decreased, ambient, or elevated salinity, to monitor their respiration. While larvae raised under elevated pCO₂ or exposed to stressful salinity conditions alone did not exhibit higher respiration rates than larvae held in ambient conditions, larvae exposed to elevated pCO₂ followed by stressful salinity conditions consumed more oxygen. These results show that even when multiple stressors act sequentially rather than simultaneously, they can retain their capacity to detrimentally affect organisms.     

Emiliania huxleyi increases calcification but not expression of calcification-related genes in long-term exposure to elevated temperature and pCO2

Increased atmospheric pCO₂ is expected to render future oceans warmer and more acidic than they are at present. Calcifying organisms such as coccolithophores that fix and export carbon into the deep sea provide feedbacks to increasing atmospheric pCO₂. Acclimation experiments suggest negative effects of warming and acidification on coccolithophore calcification, but the ability of these organisms to adapt to future environmental conditions is not well understood. Here, we tested the combined effect of pCO₂ and temperature on the coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi over more than 700 generations. Cells increased inorganic carbon content and calcification rate under warm and acidified conditions compared with ambient conditions, whereas organic carbon content and primary production did not show any change. In contrast to findings from short-term experiments, our results suggest that long-term acclimation or adaptation could change, or even reverse, negative calcification responses in E. huxleyi and its feedback to the global carbon cycle. Genome-wide profiles of gene expression using RNA-seq revealed that genes thought to be essential for calcification are not those that are most strongly differentially expressed under long-term exposure to future ocean conditions. Rather, differentially expressed genes observed here represent new targets to study responses to ocean acidification and warming.     

Ocean Acidification and Increased Temperature Have Both Positive and Negative Effects on Early Ontogenetic Traits of a Rocky Shore Keystone Predator Species

The combined effect of ocean acidification and warming is expected to have significant effects on several traits of marine organisms. The gastropod Concholepas concholepas is a rocky shore keystone predator characteristic of the south-eastern Pacific coast of South America and an important natural resource exploited by small-scale artisanal fishermen along the coast of Chile and Peru. In this study, we used small juveniles of C. concholepas collected from the rocky intertidal habitats of southern Chile (39°S) to evaluate under laboratory conditions the potential consequences of projected near-future levels of ocean acidification and warming for important early ontogenetic traits. The individuals were exposed long-term (5.8 months) to contrasting pCO₂ (ca. 500 and 1400 μatm) and temperature (15 and 19°C) levels. After this period we compared body growth traits, dislodgement resistance, predator-escape response, self-righting and metabolic rates. With respect to these traits there was no evidence of a synergistic interaction between pCO₂ and temperature. Shell growth was negatively affected by high pCO₂ levels only at 15°C. High pCO₂ levels also had a negative effect on the predator-escape response. Conversely, dislodgement resistance and self-righting were positively affected by high pCO₂ levels at both temperatures. High tenacity and fast self-righting would reduce predation risk in nature and might compensate for the negative effects of high pCO₂ levels on other important defensive traits such as shell size and escape behaviour. We conclude that climate change might produce in C. concholepas positive and negative effects in physiology and behaviour. In fact, some of the behavioural responses might be a consequence of physiological effects, such as changes in chemosensory capacity (e.g. predator-escape response) or secretion of adhesive mucous (e.g. dislodgement resistance). Moreover, we conclude that positive behavioural responses may assist in the adaptation to negative physiological impacts, and that this may also be the case for other benthic organisms.     

Coral Energy Reserves and Calcification in a High-CO2 World at Two Temperatures

Rising atmospheric CO₂ concentrations threaten coral reefs globally by causing ocean acidification (OA) and warming. Yet, the combined effects of elevated pCO₂ and temperature on coral physiology and resilience remain poorly understood. While coral calcification and energy reserves are important health indicators, no studies to date have measured energy reserve pools (i.e., lipid, protein, and carbohydrate) together with calcification under OA conditions under different temperature scenarios. Four coral species, Acropora millepora, Montipora monasteriata, Pocillopora damicornis, Turbinaria reniformis, were reared under a total of six conditions for 3.5 weeks, representing three pCO₂ levels (382, 607, 741 µatm), and two temperature regimes (26.5, 29.0°C) within each pCO₂ level. After one month under experimental conditions, only A. millepora decreased calcification (−53%) in response to seawater pCO₂ expected by the end of this century, whereas the other three species maintained calcification rates even when both pCO₂ and temperature were elevated. Coral energy reserves showed mixed responses to elevated pCO₂ and temperature, and were either unaffected or displayed nonlinear responses with both the lowest and highest concentrations often observed at the mid-pCO₂ level of 607 µatm. Biweekly feeding may have helped corals maintain calcification rates and energy reserves under these conditions. Temperature often modulated the response of many aspects of coral physiology to OA, and both mitigated and worsened pCO₂ effects. This demonstrates for the first time that coral energy reserves are generally not metabolized to sustain calcification under OA, which has important implications for coral health and bleaching resilience in a high-CO₂ world. Overall, these findings suggest that some corals could be more resistant to simultaneously warming and acidifying oceans than previously expected.     

Climate change alters seedling emergence and establishment in an old-field ecosystem

Background

Ecological succession drives large-scale changes in ecosystem composition over time, but the mechanisms whereby climatic change might alter succession remain unresolved. Here, we asked if the effects of atmospheric and climatic change would alter tree seedling emergence and establishment in an old-field ecosystem, recognizing that small shifts in rates of seedling emergence and establishment of different species may have long-term repercussions on the transition of fields to forests in the future.

Methodology/Principal Findings

We introduced seeds from three early successional tree species into constructed old-field plant communities that had been subjected for 4 years to altered temperature, precipitation, and atmospheric CO₂ regimes in an experimental facility. Our experiment revealed that different combinations of atmospheric CO₂ concentration, air temperature, and soil moisture altered seedling emergence and establishment. Treatments directly and indirectly affected soil moisture, which was the best predictor of seedling establishment, though treatment effects differed among species.

Conclusions

The observed impacts, coupled with variations in the timing of seed arrival, are demonstrated as predictors of seedling emergence and establishment in ecosystems under global change.     

Progressive N limitation of plant response to elevated CO2: a microbiological perspective

A major uncertainty in predicting long-term ecosystem C balance is whether stimulation of net primary production will be sustained in future atmospheric CO₂ scenarios. Immobilization of nutrients (N in particular) in plant biomass and soil organic matter (SOM) provides negative feedbacks to plant growth and may lead to progressive N limitation (PNL) of plant response to CO₂ enrichment. Soil microbes mediate N availability to plants by controlling litter decomposition and N transformations as well as dominating biological N fixation. CO₂-induced changes in C inputs, plant nutrient demand and water use efficiency often have interactive and contrasting effects on microbes and microbially mediated N processes. One critical question is whether CO₂-induced N accumulation in plant biomass and SOM will result in N limitation of microbes and subsequently cause them to obtain N from alternative sources or to alter the ecosystem N balance. We reviewed the experimental results that examined elevated CO₂ effects on microbial parameters, focusing on those published since 2000. These results in general show that increased C inputs dominate the CO₂ impact on microbes, microbial activities and their subsequent controls over ecosystem N dynamics, potentially enhancing microbial N acquisition and ecosystem N retention. We reason that microbial mediation of N availability for plants under future CO₂ scenarios will strongly depend on the initial ecosystem N status, and the nature and magnitude of external N inputs. Consequently, microbial processes that exert critical controls over long-term N availability for plants would be ecosystem-specific. The challenge remains to quantify CO₂-induced changes in these processes, and to extrapolate the results from short-term studies with step-up CO₂ increases to native ecosystems that are already experiencing gradual changes in the CO₂ concentration.     

Long-Term Release of Carbon Dioxide from Arctic Tundra Ecosystems in Alaska

Releases of the greenhouse gases carbon dioxide (CO₂) and methane (CH₄) from thawing permafrost are expected to be among the largest feedbacks to climate from arctic ecosystems. However, the current net carbon (C) balance of terrestrial arctic ecosystems is unknown. Recent studies suggest that these ecosystems are sources, sinks, or approximately in balance at present. This uncertainty arises because there are few long-term continuous measurements of arctic tundra CO₂ fluxes over the full annual cycle. Here, we describe a pattern of CO₂ loss based on the longest continuous record of direct measurements of CO₂ fluxes in the Alaskan Arctic, from two representative tundra ecosystems, wet sedge and heath tundra. We also report on a shorter time series of continuous measurements from a third ecosystem, tussock tundra. The amount of CO₂ loss from both heath and wet sedge ecosystems was related to the timing of freeze-up of the soil active layer in the fall. Wet sedge tundra lost the most CO₂ during the anomalously warm autumn periods of September–December 2013–2015, with CH₄ emissions contributing little to the overall C budget. Losses of C translated to approximately 4.1 and 1.4% of the total soil C stocks in active layer of the wet sedge and heath tundra, respectively, from 2008 to 2015. Increases in air temperature and soil temperatures at all depths may trigger a new trajectory of CO₂ release, which will be a significant feedback to further warming if it is representative of larger areas of the Arctic.     

The effect of pre-industrial and predicted atmospheric CO2 concentrations on the development of diazotrophic and non-diazotrophic cyanobacterium: Dolichospermum circinale and Microcystis aeruginosa

Photoautotrophs are capable of consuming high quantities of CO₂, yet scant research exists examining the influence of different CO₂ concentrations on the growth of freshwater diazotrophic or non-diazotrophic cyanobacteria. In this study, we cultured two cyanobacteria taxa (Dolichospermum circinale and Microcystis aeruginosa) within controlled atmospheric CO₂ chambers at pre-industrial, and post-industrial concentrations. Biovolume and chlorophyll a (Chl-a) differed as a consequence of the adjusted CO₂ gradients. Significantly higher biovolume measurements were observed in the elevated CO₂ treatment for the diazotrophic species in the initial experiment. However, a follow-up experiment, with a corrected culture replenishment regime showed Chl-a measurements were greater for the diazotrophic and non-diazotrophic species in the elevated CO₂ treatment. Increasing CO₂ presents a risk to already compromised eutrophic and hyper-eutrophic ecosystems, and we reason increasing CO₂ concentrations could affect photosynthetic performance and CO₂ assimilation of surface dwelling cyanobacteria. Further experimental work is required to establish ecological thresholds for freshwater ecosystems, as pH levels showed a measurable reduction within the elevated CO₂ treatments. As cyanobacteria species may respond quite differently to future CO₂ concentrations similar comparative studies should be carried out that focus on CO₂ dynamics and pH. The findings of the study indicate diazotrophic cyanobacteria growth in particular may benefit from elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentrations.     

Saturation response of enhanced vegetation productivity attributes to intricate interactions

Evidence for the multifaceted responses of terrestrial ecosystems has been shown by the weakening of CO₂ fertilization-induced and warming-controlled productivity gains. The intricate relationship between vegetation productivity and various environmental controls still remains elusive spatially. Here several inherent preponderances make China a natural experimental setting to investigate the interaction and relative contributions of five drivers to gross primary productivity for the period from 1982 to 2018 (i.e., elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentrations, climate change, nutrient availability, anthropogenic land use change, and soil moisture) by coupling multiple long-term datasets. Despite a strikingly prominent enhancement of vegetation productivity in China, it exhibits similar saturation responses to the aforementioned environmental drivers (elevated CO₂, climatic factors, and soil moisture). The CO₂ fertilization-dominated network explains the long-term variations in vegetation productivity in humid regions, but its effect is clearly attenuated or even absent in arid and alpine environments controlled by climate and soil moisture. Divergence in interactions also provides distinct evidence that water availability plays an essential role in limiting the potential effects of climate change and elevated CO₂ concentrations on vegetation productivity. Unprecedented industrialization and dramatic surface changes may have breached critical thresholds of terrestrial ecosystems under the diverse natural environment and thus forced a shift from a period dominated by CO₂ fertilization to a period with nonlinear interactions. These findings suggest that future benefits in terrestrial ecosystems are likely to be counteracted by uncertainties in the complicated network, implying an increasing reliance on human societies to combat potential risks. Our results therefore highlight the need to account for the intricate interactions globally and thus incorporate them into mitigation and adaptation policies.     

Temperature amplifies the effect of high CO2 on the photosynthesis,respiration, and calcification of the coralline algae Phymatolithon lusitanicum

The combination of ocean acidification (OA) and global warming is expected to have a significant effect on the diversity and functioning of marine ecosystems, particularly on calcifying algae such as rhodoliths (maërl) that form extensive beds worldwide, from polar to tropical regions. In addition, the increasing frequency of extreme events, such as heat waves, threatens coastal ecosystems and may affect their capacity to fix blue carbon. The few studies where the simultaneous effects of both temperature and CO₂ were investigated have revealed contradictory results. To assess the effect that high temperature spells can have on the maërl beds under OA, we tested the short‐time effects of temperature and CO₂ on the net photosynthesis, respiration, and calcification of the recently described species Phymatolithon lusitanicum, the most common maërl species of southern Portugal. Photosynthesis, calcification, and respiration increased with temperature, and the differences among treatments were enhanced under high CO₂. We found that in the short term, the metabolic rates of Phymatolithon lusitanicum will increase with CO₂ and temperature as will the coupling between calcification and photosynthesis. However, under high CO₂, this coupling will favor photosynthesis over calcification, which, in the long term, can have a negative effect on the blue carbon fixing capacity of the maërl beds from southern Portugal.     

Resource subsidies between stream and terrestrial ecosystems under global change

Streams and adjacent terrestrial ecosystems are characterized by permeable boundaries that are crossed by resource subsidies. Although the importance of these subsidies for riverine ecosystems is increasingly recognized, little is known about how they may be influenced by global environmental change. Drawing from available evidence, in this review we propose a conceptual framework to evaluate the effects of global change on the quality and spatiotemporal dynamics of stream–terrestrial subsidies. We illustrate how changes to hydrological and temperature regimes, atmospheric CO₂ concentration, land use and the distribution of nonindigenous species can influence subsidy fluxes by affecting the biology and ecology of donor and recipient systems and the physical characteristics of stream–riparian boundaries. Climate‐driven changes in the physiology and phenology of organisms with complex life cycles will influence their development time, body size and emergence patterns, with consequences for adjacent terrestrial consumers. Also, novel species interactions can modify subsidy dynamics via complex bottom‐up and top‐down effects. Given the seasonality and pulsed nature of subsidies, alterations of the temporal and spatial synchrony of resource availability to consumers across ecosystems are likely to result in ecological mismatches that can scale up from individual responses, to communities, to ecosystems. Similarly, altered hydrology, temperature, CO₂ concentration and land use will modify the recruitment and quality of riparian vegetation, the timing of leaf abscission and the establishment of invasive riparian species. Along with morphological changes to stream–terrestrial boundaries, these will alter the use and fluxes of allochthonous subsidies associated with stream ecosystems. Future research should aim to understand how subsidy dynamics will be affected by key drivers of global change, including agricultural intensification, increasing water use and biotic homogenization. Our conceptual framework based on the match–mismatch between donor and recipient organisms may facilitate understanding of the multiple effects of global change and aid in the development of future research questions.     

陆地生态系统土壤CO2排放对模拟增温的响应特征及影响因素

全球变暖已经成为不争的事实,陆地生态系统碳循环的研究受到了各界广泛关注,是当前全球变化研究中的重点。土壤CO₂排放是陆地生态系统与大气间二氧化碳交换的最大通量之一,当前陆地生态系统中土壤CO₂排放如何响应全球气候变暖及其影响因素仍不清楚,限制了对土壤碳循环过程及影响机制的深入认识。旨在明确全球变暖背景下陆地生态系统中土壤CO₂排放格局及影响因素。基于Web of Science、PubMed和中国知网等中英文期刊数据库,充分收集全球范围内的相关野外试验文献81篇,提取出65个研究位置和213组相关研究数据,采用Meta分析方法探讨陆地生态系统土壤CO₂排放对增温的响应特征,分析其与海拔、气候、土壤含水量、容重(BD)、pH、全氮(TN)和土壤有机碳(SOC)的相关关系。结果表明:陆地生态系统中土壤CO₂排放对增温整体有显著的正向响应,在农、林、草生态系统中,增温使土壤CO₂排放分别显著增加13.1%、18.0%、5.9% (P<0.05),森林生态系统对增温响应的正效应最强烈;增温能在短时期内促进土壤呼吸,但随着增温持续时间增加,土壤呼吸对温度的敏感性会降低,对温度变化产生适应性,从而使其对增温的响应能力减弱;响应特征受到环境因子、土壤特性以及其他试验条件等的影响,绝大多数条件下对增温表现出显著的正响应特征,不同影响因子之间共同作用、相互影响。增温通常能够改变植物生物量、土壤养分含量及微生物数量和活性,从而影响到植被根际呼吸和土壤呼吸速率。相关分析表明,海拔对土壤CO₂排放有显著负向影响,而年均气温、年均降水量、土壤含水量和仪器嵌入土壤深度则对土壤CO₂排放产生显著正向影响。这些结果对于理解全球土壤CO₂排放的时空变化格局有重要意义,也为准确评价全球变暖背景下土壤碳汇功能及其持续性提供理论依据。     

Nitrification,denitrification, and related functional genes under elevated CO2: A meta-analysis in terrestrial ecosystems

Global change may have profound effects on soil nitrogen (N) cycling that can induce positive feedback to climate change through increased nitrous oxide (N₂O) emissions mediated by nitrification and denitrification. We conducted a meta-analysis of the effects of elevated CO₂ on nitrification and denitrification based on 879 observations from 58 publications and 46 independent elevated CO₂ experiments in terrestrial ecosystems. We investigated the effects of elevated CO₂ alone or combined with elevated temperature, increased precipitation, drought, and N addition. We assessed the response to elevated CO₂ of gross and potential nitrification, potential denitrification, and abundances of related functional genes (archaeal amoA, bacterial amoA, nirK, nirS, and nosZ). Elevated CO₂ increased potential nitrification (+28%) and the abundance of bacterial amoA functional gene (+62%) in cropland ecosystems. Elevated CO₂ increased potential denitrification when combined with N addition and higher precipitation (+116%). Elevated CO₂ also increased the abundance of nirK (+25%) and nirS (+27%) functional genes in terrestrial ecosystems and of nosZ (+32%) functional gene in cropland ecosystems. The increase in the abundance of nosZ under elevated CO₂ was larger at elevated temperature and high N (+62%). Four out of 14 two-way interactions tested between elevated CO₂ and elevated temperature, elevated CO₂ and increased precipitation, and elevated CO₂ and N addition were marginally significant and mostly synergistic. The effects of elevated CO₂ on potential nitrification and abundances of bacterial amoA and nirS functional genes increased with mean annual temperature and mean annual precipitation. Our meta-analysis thus suggests that warming and increased precipitation in large areas of the world could reinforce positive responses of nitrification and denitrification to elevated CO₂ and urges the need for more investigations in the tropical zone and on interactive effects among multiple global change factors, as we may largely underestimate the effects of global change on soil N₂O emissions.     

陆地生态系统臭氧通量观测和气孔吸收估算研究进展

近地面大气中臭氧(O3)对植物生长发育和产量会产生不良影响。工业和交通排放的增加使得全球地面O3浓度逐年增加,不断升高的O3浓度已开始影响到我国的粮食产量。O3对植物的影响是由于其进入植物体内发生生化反应所引起的,所以需要建立一种考虑到植物生理生态状况的评估指标来评估O3对植物的影响。其中基于O3通量(特别是植物气孔吸收)的评价指标和方法,被认为比传统的基于O3浓度的评价指标和方法更符合O3对植物的影响机理。介绍了O3对生态系统影响评估方法和评价指标,重点评述了生态系统尺度O3通量观测和气孔吸收估算的主要方法以及在不同生态系统上的研究进展分析了我国关于O3对植物和生态系统影响的研究现状,并对未来的研究工作进行了展望。     

Shallow Water Marine Sediment Bacterial Community Shifts Along a Natural CO2 Gradient in the Mediterranean Sea Off Vulcano,Italy

The effects of increasing atmospheric CO₂ on ocean ecosystems are a major environmental concern, as rapid shoaling of the carbonate saturation horizon is exposing vast areas of marine sediments to corrosive waters worldwide. Natural CO₂ gradients off Vulcano, Italy, have revealed profound ecosystem changes along rocky shore habitats as carbonate saturation levels decrease, but no investigations have yet been made of the sedimentary habitat. Here, we sampled the upper 2 cm of volcanic sand in three zones, ambient (median pCO₂ 419 μatm, minimum Ω_arag 3.77), moderately CO₂-enriched (median pCO₂ 592 μatm, minimum Ω_arag 2.96), and highly CO₂-enriched (median pCO₂ 1611 μatm, minimum Ω_arag 0.35). We tested the hypothesis that increasing levels of seawater pCO₂ would cause significant shifts in sediment bacterial community composition, as shown recently in epilithic biofilms at the study site. In this study, 454 pyrosequencing of the V1 to V3 region of the 16S rRNA gene revealed a shift in community composition with increasing pCO₂. The relative abundances of most of the dominant genera were unaffected by the pCO₂ gradient, although there were significant differences for some 5 % of the genera present (viz. Georgenia, Lutibacter, Photobacterium, Acinetobacter, and Paenibacillus), and Shannon Diversity was greatest in sediments subject to long-term acidification (>100 years). Overall, this supports the view that globally increased ocean pCO₂ will be associated with changes in sediment bacterial community composition but that most of these organisms are resilient. However, further work is required to assess whether these results apply to other types of coastal sediments and whether the changes in relative abundance of bacterial taxa that we observed can significantly alter the biogeochemical functions of marine sediments.     

The influence of rising tropospheric carbon dioxide and ozone on plant productivity

Human activities result in a wide array of pollutants being released to the atmosphere. A number of these pollutants have direct effects on plants, including carbon dioxide (CO₂), which is the substrate for photosynthesis, and ozone (O₃), a damaging oxidant. How plants respond to changes in these atmospheric air pollutants, both directly and indirectly, feeds back on atmospheric composition and climate, global net primary productivity and ecosystem service provisioning. Here we discuss the past, current and future trends in emissions of CO₂ and O₃ and synthesise the current atmospheric CO₂ and O₃ budgets, describing the important role of vegetation in determining the atmospheric burden of those pollutants. While increased atmospheric CO₂ concentration over the past 150 years has been accompanied by greater CO₂ assimilation and storage in terrestrial ecosystems, there is evidence that rising temperatures and increased drought stress may limit the ability of future terrestrial ecosystems to buffer against atmospheric emissions. Long‐term Free Air CO₂ or O₃ Enrichment (FACE) experiments provide critical experimentation about the effects of future CO₂ and O₃ on ecosystems, and highlight the important interactive effects of temperature, nutrients and water supply in determining ecosystem responses to air pollution. Long‐term experimentation in both natural and cropping systems is needed to provide critical empirical data for modelling the effects of air pollutants on plant productivity in the decades to come.     

Downward Regulation of Photosynthesis and Growth at High CO(2) Levels : No Evidence for Either Phenomenon in Three-Year Study of Sour Orange Trees

Numerous photosynthesis and growth measurements of sour orange (Citrus aurantium L.) trees maintained in ambient air and air enriched with an extra 300 microliters per liter of CO₂ have revealed the CO₂-enriched trees to have consistently sequestered approximately 2.8 times more carbon than the control trees over a period of three full years. Under field conditions in the natural environment, plants may not experience the downward regulation of photosynthetic capacity typically observed in long-term CO₂ enrichment experiments with plants growing in pots.     

Photosynthetic response of seedlings of the sub-tropical tree Schima superba with exposure to elevated carbon dioxide and temperature

Seedlings of Schima superba were exposed to both ambient (375 ppm) and 720 ppm levels of CO₂ in combination with two incubation temperatures (25/20, 30/25°C, day/night) for a six-month period. Net height growth of seedlings was enhanced in the early period of exposure to high levels of CO₂. However, when seedlings were exposed for a longer period of time to this high concentration, net height growth was inhibited. Decreased photosynthetic rate with elevated CO₂ was observed when measured in the ambient CO₂ over a long-term exposure of 6 months. In contrast, a significant increase in photosynthesis was noted for seedlings exposed to higher incubation temperature in either ambient or 720 ppm CO₂ concentrations. The response of CO₂ assimilation to internal Ci was indicated by the lower sensitivity in seedlings grown in elevated CO₂ concentration. Though this response could also be found in a higher sensitivity in seedlings grown at higher temperature, the seedlings grown in normal conditions (ambient CO₂ and temperature) were still more sensitive to CO₂ assimilation response to internal Ci. This experiment suggests that: (1) exposure of seedlings to higher CO₂ levels for longer periods may lead to a decrease in seedling height growth and photosynthetic rate, as well as decreasing sensitivity to changing internal CO₂ concentrations; (2) the optimum temperature for photosynthesis of seedlings grown in an elevated CO₂ concentration was higher than that for seedlings grown in ambient concentration.