Stomatal density and aperture length in four plant species grown across a subambient CO2 gradient |
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Authors: | Stephen R Malone Herman S Mayeux Hyrum B Johnson H Wayne Polley |
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Institution: | U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Grassland, Soil and Water Research Laboratory, 808 E. Blackland Road, Temple, Texas, 76502 |
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Abstract: | Stomatal density, stomatal aperture length, area/leaf, and number of stomata/leaf were measured after the annual C3 agronomic grasses oats (Avena sativa) and wheat (Triticum aestivum), the C, woody legume honey mesquite (Prosopis glandulosa), and the perennial C4 grass little bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium) were grown across a subambient carbon dioxide concentration (CO2]) gradient from near 200 to 350 μmol/mol in a growth chamber. The purpose was to determine if the size and density of stomata vary in response to atmospheric CO2] during growth, across a subambient CO2] range representative of the doubling that has occurred since the last ice age. Changes in stomatal density and aperture length with increasing CO2] were small when detected. Stomatal density decreased on adaxial flag leaf surfaces of wheat, and aperture length increased slightly with CO2], Leaf area and number of stomata/flag leaf increased by similar proportions with CO2] in two wheat cultivars. No consistent relationship between CO2] and stomatal density or size was detected in mesquite, oats, or little bluestem. We conclude that individual plants of these species lack the plasticity to significantly alter stomatal density and aperture length in response to increasing atmospheric CO2] in a single generation (annuals) or growing season (perennials). |
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