A meta-analysis of leaf gas exchange and nitrogen in trees grown under elevated carbon dioxide

The response of trees to rising atmospheric CO₂ concentration ([CO₂]) is of concern to forest ecologists and global carbon modellers and is the focus of an increasing body of research work. I review studies published up to May 1994, and several unpublished works, which reported at least one of the following: net CO₂ assimilation (A), stomatal conductance (g_s), leaf dark respiration (R_d) leaf nitrogen or specific leaf area (SLA) in woody plants grown at <400 μmol mol^?1 CO₂ or at 600–800 μmol mol^?1 CO₂. The resulting data from 41 species were categorized according to growth conditions (unstressed versus stressed), length of CO₂ exposure, pot size and exposure facility [growth chamber (GC), greenhouse (GH), or open-top chamber (OTC)] and interpreted using meta-analytic methods. Overall, A showed a large and significant increase at elevated [CO₂] but length of CO₂ exposure and the exposure facility were important modifiers of this response. Plants exposed for < 50 d had a significantly greater response, and those from GCs had a significantly lower response than plants from longer exposures or from OTC studies. Negative acclimation of A was significant and general among stressed plants, but in unstressed plants was influenced by length of CO₂ exposure, the exposure facility and/or pot size. Growth at elevated [CO₂] resulted in moderate reductions in gs in unstressed plants, but there was no significant effect of CO₂ on gs in stressed plants. Leaf dark respiration (mass or area basis) was reduced strongly by growth at high [CO₂] > while leaf N was reduced only when expressed on a mass basis. This review is the first meta-analysis of elevated CO₂ studies and provides statistical confirmation of several general responses of trees to elevated [CO₂]. It also highlights important areas of continued uncertainty in our understanding of these responses.     

Albedo estimates for land surface models and support for a new paradigm based on foliage nitrogen concentration

Vegetation albedo is a critical component of the Earth's climate system, yet efforts to evaluate and improve albedo parameterizations in climate models have lagged relative to other aspects of model development. Here, we calculated growing season albedos for deciduous and evergreen forests, crops, and grasslands based on over 40 site‐years of data from the AmeriFlux network and compared them with estimates presently used in the land surface formulations of a variety of climate models. Generally, the albedo estimates used in land surface models agreed well with this data compilation. However, a variety of models using fixed seasonal estimates of albedo overestimated the growing season albedo of northerly evergreen trees. In contrast, climate models that rely on a common two‐stream albedo submodel provided accurate predictions of boreal needle‐leaf evergreen albedo but overestimated grassland albedos. Inverse analysis showed that parameters of the two‐stream model were highly correlated. Consistent with recent observations based on remotely sensed albedo, the AmeriFlux dataset demonstrated a tight linear relationship between canopy albedo and foliage nitrogen concentration (for forest vegetation: albedo=0.01+0.071%N, r²=0.91; forests, grassland, and maize: albedo=0.02+0.067%N, r²=0.80). However, this relationship saturated at the higher nitrogen concentrations displayed by soybean foliage. We developed similar relationships between a foliar parameter used in the two‐stream albedo model and foliage nitrogen concentration. These nitrogen‐based relationships can serve as the basis for a new approach to land surface albedo modeling that simplifies albedo estimation while providing a link to other important ecosystem processes.     

STUDIES ON THE PRODUCTION AND PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECTS OF ASYMMETRIN

In shake-flask culture asymmetrin was produced by PenicIlliumthomiiaud Byssochlamys niveaduring autolysis. A bioassay wasdevised to estimate relative concentrations of this compound.Culture filtrates of P. thomiicontaining asymmetrin caused adecrease in wet weight, dry weight, and total nitrogen of Phaseolusvulgarisup to 18 days after treatment. At certain intervalsafter treatment with culture filtrate of B. nivea,respirationwas inhibited, and changes were observed in isotope ratio valuesof plants supplied with glucose-¹⁴ C. Plants treated previouslywith culture filtrates of B. nivearesponded but little to gibberelhcacid. High concentrations of mdoleacetic acid inhibited growthof control plants but stimulated growth of plants treated withculture filtrate of B. nivea. ¹Present address: United Fruit Company, Norwood, Massachusetts.Supported in part by a Public Health Service Fellowship No.GF 13,776 from the division of General Medical Sciences, PublicHealth Service, National Institutes of Health, and Grant G 20989from the National Science Foundation. ²Journal Paper No. 2170 of the Purdue Agricultural ExperimentStation.     

Dosage differential effects of permethrin impregnated into bednets on pyrethroid resistant and susceptible genotypes of the mosquito Anopheles stephensi

Abstract Effects of bednets impregnated with permethrin 200 mg and 500mg/m² on pyrethroid resistant and susceptible strains of Anopheles stephensi and their F hybrid progeny were studied, using free-flying female mosquitoes of these three genotypes, in a room with a human subject under a polyester net, having one of his arms in contact with the treated netting. Unexpectedly an apparently higher feeding rate, but lower knockdown and mortality rates, of mosquitoes were obtained for each of the three genotypes with the higher concentration of 500mg/m² compared with the lower dose of 200mg/m². At the lower dose there was 100% mortality 24 h after exposure of all three genotypes, suggesting that there would not be selection for resistance at this dose. However, at the higher dose there was significantly higher mortality of the susceptible strain than of the F hybrids, suggesting incomplete recessiveness of this resistance and that there would therefore be effective selection for resistance by this dose.
When female mosquitoes were confined in bioassay cones on treated netting, the resistant strain of An.stephensi showed significantly less irritability (scored as the time until first flight take-off) in response to each dose, as compared with the susceptible strain and F, hybrids. The higher dose provoked more irritation of each genotype; this could explain the greater knockdown and mortality rates of mosquitoes exposed to the lower dose which was less irritating and hence more effectively insecticidal. Thus a dose of 200mg/m² is preferable to 500mg/m² for malaria vector control.     

BIOSYNTHESIS OF SMALL MOLECULES IN CHLOROPLASTS OF HIGHER PLANTS

1. Chloroplasts of higher plants contain enzymes which permit them to synthesize many kinds of small molecules in addition to carbohydrates. 2. Either aqueous or non-aqueous techniques may be used to isolate chloroplasts. Aqueous methods permit the isolation of chloroplasts showing high rates of photosynthesis; the organelles can be purified by means of density gradients. Non-aqueously isolated chloroplasts cannot photosynthesize, but show good retention of low-molecular-weight substances and soluble enzymes. 3. Whole cells photoassimilating ¹⁴CO₂ show considerable formation of ¹⁴C-labelled amino acids and lipids, but isolated chloroplasts exhibit very poor synthesis of amino acids and lipids from ¹⁴CO₂. 4. Chloroplasts play an important rôle in reducing nitrate to ammonia. There is controversy about the presence in chloroplasts of nitrate reductase and about the mechanism of the light-dependent reduction of nitrate to nitrite; however, it is generally agreed that non-cyclic electron transport directly supports reduction of nitrite to ammonia via a chloroplastic nitrite reductase. 5. Chloroplasts actively assimilate inorganic nitrogen into amino acids. The assimilation reaction is either the reductive amination of α-ketoglutarate to glutamate or the ATP-dependent conversion of glutamate to glutamine. The enzyme glutamate synthase has recently been found to be present in chloroplasts and may play an important function in nitrogen assimilation. 6. Numerous transaminases (aminotransferases) are present in chloroplasts. 7. The source of α-keto-acid precursors of chloroplastic amino acids is unknown. It remains to be established whether chloroplasts import the required keto acids or whether some of them might be generated via an incomplete tricarboxylic-acid cycle located in the chloroplast. 8. Chloroplasts contain characteristically high levels of mono and digalactosyl diglycerides, sulpholipid and phosphatidyl glycerol. They also have large amounts of polyunsaturated fatty acids. 9. Fatty acids are synthesized by the concerted action of fatty-acid synthetase, elongases and desaturases. Two pathways have been implicated for the formation of α-linolenic acid. 10. The galactosyldiglycerides are synthesized by successive galactosylation of diglyceride. The enzymes responsible are probably located in the chloroplastic envelope. 11. The other major chloroplastic acyl lipids (sulpholipid, phosphatidylglycerol and phosphatidylcholine) have not been, as yet, synthesized de novo by means of isolated chloroplast fractions. However, indirect evidence indicates that the first two are probably formed there. 12. Chlorophyllide synthesis involves the formation of δ-aminolaevulinic acid (δALA) followed by conversion of δALA to protoporphyrin IX, which is then transformed into protochlorophyll. 13. Recent evidence favours the view that δALA synthesis is not mediated by δALA synthetase but by another pathway in which δALA can be derived from α-ketoglutarate or glutamate. It has not been established whether this pathway is localized in plastids. 14. Conversion of δALA to protoporphyrin IX is mediated by soluble enzymes of the plastid stroma. Membrane-bound enzymes mediate the conversion of protoporphyrin to protochlorophyll. 15. Carotenoids are synthesized from acetyl C_oA via geranylgeranyl-pyrophosphate and phytoene intermediates. Evidence has been obtained for both neurosporene and lycopene as precursors of the cyclic carotenoids. 16. The overall pathway of carotenoid formation is subject to photoregulation, particularly during the development of the chloroplast. 17. Carotenes are precursors of xanthophylls, the inserted oxygen being derived from molecular oxygen. 18. Chloroplasts may synthesize or interconvert gibberellin hormones.     

GABA and Prolonged Spinal Inhibition

TWO explanations have been provided for the relatively long latency and prolonged (often exceeding 100 ms) inhibition of firing of spinal motoneurones which is caused by repetitive impulses produced by electrical or natural stimulation^1–4 in muscle and cutaneous afferent fibres. This prolonged inhibitory process is exemplified by the reduction in the amplitude of monosynaptic excitatory synaptic potentials (EPSPs) and reflexes of extensor motoneurones by tetanic stimulation of group I afferents of flexor motoneurones². In contrast with “direct” inhibition, the prolonged inhibition is not reduced by strychnine but is diminished by Picrotoxin^4,6.     

Some Thermal Requirements of Fiddler Crabs of the Temperate and Tropical Zones and Their Influence on Geographic Distribution

Thermal stress is one environmental parameter that has greatlyinfluenced the migration of crustaceans from the sea to land.Since a greater number of species of terrestrial crabs are foundin the tropics than in the temperate zone, comparative studiesof the influence of temperature on latitudinally separated populationswere undertaken. Two tropical species, U. rapax and U. thayeri,may occur as far north as St. Augustine, Florida, or, followinga severe winter, may be rare north of Cape Kennedy. The lethaleffect of the low temperatures recorded during one severe winter(1957–58) is supported by laboratory studies in whichLD₅₀, deaths occurred in 4.5 days at 10°C for U. rapax acclimatedto 18°C. The experiment demonstrates that U. rapax cannotacclimate to and survive low temperatures. This contrasts markedlywith the situation in semi-terrestrial crabs of the temperatezone, which are able to acclimate to cold. The distribution of Uca around Cape Cod Bay correlates wellwith the coastal hydrographic thermal gradient and supportsPassano's suggestion that temperatures below 20° may belimiting as they inhibit proecdysis in U. pugnax. Such an inhibitionis found experimentally in U. pugilator and in the tropicalspecies, U. rapax. It is hypothesized that a shift in the thermodynamicsof the processes underlying molting has not occurred in Ucaof the temperate zone. The paucity of semi-terrestrial Brachyurain the temperate zone may be due to the failure of many speciesto evolve capacity-adaptations to carry out all requisite lifeprocesses at temperatures below 20°, or the resistance-adaptationsnecessary to survive the low temperatures of winter.     

BIOCHEMICAL AUTONOMY OF HIGHER PLANT CHLOROPLASTS AND THEIR SYNTHESIS OF SMALL MOLECULES

1. Mature chloroplasts are able to synthesize a wide variety of compounds of low molecular weight in addition to carbohydrates. 2. Mature chloroplasts from higher plants can synthesize fatty acids from acetate, and galactolipids from UDP-galactose; but, thus far, there is no direct evidence that chloroplasts can produce their principal fatty acid, α-linolenate, independently of the rest of the cell. 3. Chloroplasts possess the enzymic machinery necessary to generate most of the common amino acids from inorganic nitrogen plus appropriate a-keto analogs of amino acids. However, the plastids do not appear able to synthesize many α-keto carbon compounds from the initial products of photosynthetic carbon dioxide fixation. 4. Whether chloroplasts can generate their own supply of acetate remains in doubt. 5. There is little evidence for or against the existence of chloroplastic enzymes catalysing synthesis of purines and pyrimidines. 6. Recent evidence confirms that immature plastids possess the complement of enzymes required for synthesis of protochlorophyllide from 8-aminolaevulinic acid but leaves open the possibility that extrachloroplastic cofactors may be involved in protochlorophyllide biosynthesis. 7. The weight of the available evidence suggests that, despite its great metabolic versatility and possible reproductive autonomy, the chloroplast of the higher plant is not metabolically autonomous or nutritionally independent of the remainder of the plant cell. Therefore, if there is any validity to the oft-repeated speculation that chloroplasts have evolved from ancient free-living procaryotes, it appears that the evolution of the chloroplast has led to a considerable loss of nutritional autonomy concomitant with the development or preservation of photosynthetic competence.     

The legacy of harvest and fire on ecosystem carbon storage in a north temperate forest

Forest harvesting and wildfire were widespread in the upper Great Lakes region of North America during the early 20th century. We examined how long this legacy of disturbance constrains forest carbon (C) storage rates by quantifying C pools and fluxes after harvest and fire in a mixed deciduous forest chronosequence in northern lower Michigan, USA. Study plots ranged in age from 6 to 68 years and were created following experimental clear‐cut harvesting and fire disturbance. Annual C storage was estimated biometrically from measurements of wood, leaf, fine root, and woody debris mass, mass losses to herbivory, soil C content, and soil respiration. Maximum annual C storage in stands that were disturbed by harvest and fire twice was 26% less than a reference stand receiving the same disturbance only once. The mechanism for this reduction in annual C storage was a long‐lasting decrease in site quality that endured over the 62‐year timeframe examined. However, during regrowth the harvested and burned forest rapidly became a net C sink, storing 0.53 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ after 6 years. Maximum net ecosystem production (1.35 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) and annual C increment (0.95 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹) were recorded in the 24‐ and 50‐year‐old stands, respectively. Net primary production averaged 5.19 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ in experimental stands, increasing by < 10% from 6 to 50 years. Soil heterotrophic respiration was more variable across stand ages, ranging from 3.85 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ in the 6‐year‐old stand to 4.56 Mg C ha⁻¹ yr⁻¹ in the 68‐year‐old stand. These results suggest that harvesting and fire disturbances broadly distributed across the region decades ago caused changes in site quality and successional status that continue to limit forest C storage rates.