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Effects of UV-B radiation on terrestrial plants and ecosystems: interaction with CO2 enrichment

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Abstract

UV-B radiation is just one of the environmental factors, that affect plant growth. It is now widely accepted that realistic assessment of plant responses to enhanced UV-B should be performed at sufficiently high Photosynthetically Active Radiation (PAR), preferably under field conditions. This will often imply, that responses of plants to enhanced UV-B in the field will be assessed under simultaneous water shortage, nutrient deficiency and variation of temperature. Since atmospheric CO2 enrichment, global warming and increasing UV-B radiation represent components of global climatic change, interactions of UV-B with CO2 enrichment and temperature are particularly relevant. Only few relevant UV-B× CO2 interaction studies have been published. Most of these studies refer to greenhouse experiments. We report a significant CO2 × UV-B interaction for the total plant dry weight and root dry weight of the C3-grass Elymus athericus. At elevated CO2 (720 μmol mol-1, plant growth was much less reduced by enhanced UV-B than at ambient atmospheric CO2 although there were significant (positive) CO2 effects and (negative) UV-B effects on plant growth. Most other CO2 × UV-B studies do not report significant interactions on total plant biomass. This lack of CO2 × UV-B interactions may result from the fact that primary metabolic targets for CO2 and UVB are different. UV-B and CO2 may differentially affect plant morphogenetic parameters: biomass allocation, branching, flowering, leaf thickness, emergence and senescence. Such more subtle interactions between CO2 and UV-B need careful and long term experimentation to be detected. In the case of no significant CO2× UV-B interactions, combined CO2 and UV-B effects will be additive. Plants differ in their response to CO2 and UV-B, they respond in general positively to elevated CO2 and negatively to enhanced UV-B. Moreover, plant species differ in their responsiveness to CO2 and UV-B. Therefore, even in case of additive CO2 and UV-B effects, plant competitive relationships may change markedly under current climatic change with simultaneous enhanced atmospheric CO2 and solar UV-B radiation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Ecology & Ecotoxicology, Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    J. Rozema, G. M. Lenssen, J. W. M. van de Staaij, M. Tosserams, A. J. Visser & R. A. Broekman

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  1. J. Rozema
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  2. G. M. Lenssen
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  3. J. W. M. van de Staaij
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  4. M. Tosserams
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  5. A. J. Visser
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  6. R. A. Broekman
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Rozema, J., Lenssen, G.M., van de Staaij, J.W.M. et al. Effects of UV-B radiation on terrestrial plants and ecosystems: interaction with CO2 enrichment. Plant Ecology 128, 183–191 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009762924174

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