Journal
GLOBAL CHANGE BIOLOGY
Volume 13, Issue 6, Pages 1216-1223Publisher
WILEY
DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2486.2007.01351.x
Keywords
acclimation; climate warming; field; free air temperature increase (FATI); leaf; respiration; Q(10); temperature sensitivity
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Acclimation of plant respiration rates (R) to climate warming is highly variable and many results appear contradictory. We tested the recently suggested hypotheses that pre-existing, long-lived leaves should exhibit a relatively limited ability for R to acclimate to climate warming, and that acclimation would occur via changes in the short-term temperature sensitivity of respiration. Seedlings of a subalpine, evergreen tree species (Eucalyptus pauciflora) were grown under naturally fluctuating conditions within its natural distribution. We used a free air temperature increase (FATI) system of infra-red ceramic lamps to raise night-time leaf temperatures by 0.3 +/- 0.1, 1.3 +/- 0.1, and 2.2 +/- 0.1 degrees C above ambient for 1 year. Light-saturated assimilation rates and plant growth did not change with nocturnal FATI treatments. Leaf R measured at prevailing temperatures did not differ between FATI treatments. Within each FATI treatment, nocturnal leaf R was highly sensitive to artificial temperature changes within minutes, and also correlated strongly with natural nocturnal and seasonal temperature variation. The corresponding values of Q(10) of R varied according to time scale of measurements, but did not vary between FATI treatments. Instead, acclimation of R to nocturnal FATI occurred through changes in the base rate of respiration.
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