Abstract
Isoprene is the most abundant biogenic hydrocarbon released from vegetation and it plays a major role in tropospheric chemistry. Because of its link to climate change, there is interest in understanding the relationship between CO2, water availability and isoprene emission. We explored the effect of atmospheric elevated CO2 concentration and its interaction with vapour pressure deficit (VPD) and water stress, on gross isoprene production (GIP) and net ecosystem exchange of CO2 (NEE) in two Populus deltoides plantations grown at ambient and elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration in the Biosphere 2 Laboratory facility. Although GIP and NEE showed a similar response to light and temperature, their responses to CO2 and VPD were opposite; NEE was stimulated by elevated CO2 and depressed by high VPD, while GIP was inhibited by elevated CO2 and stimulated by high VPD. The difference in response between isoprene production and photosynthesis was also evident during water stress. GIP was stimulated in the short term and declined only when the stress was severe, whereas NEE started to decrease from the beginning of the experiment. This contrasting response led the carbon lost as isoprene in both the ambient and the elevated CO2 treatments to increase as water stress progressed. Our results suggest that water limitation can override the inhibitory effect of elevated CO2 leading to increased global isoprene emissions in a climate change scenario with warmer and drier climate.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Affek HP, Yakir D (2003) Natural abundance carbon isotope composition of isoprene reflects incomplete coupling between isoprene synthesis and photosynthetic carbon flow. Plant Physiol 131:1727–1736
Brown S, Sathaye J, Cannell M, Kauppi P (1996) Climate change in 1995—impacts, adaptations and mitigation of climate change: scientific-technical analyses. Contribution of working group ii to the second assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Centritto M, Nascetti P, Petrilli L, Raschi A, Loreto F (2004) Profiles of isoprene emission and photosynthetic parameters in hybrid poplars exposed to free-air CO2 enrichment. Plant Cell Environ 27:403–412
Chameides WL, Lindsay RW, Richardson J, Kiang CS (1988) The role of biogenic hydrocarbons in urban photochemical smog: Atlanta as a case-study. Science 241:1473–1475
Cox PM, Betts RA, Jones CD, Spall SA, Totterdell IJ (2000) Acceleration of global warming due to carbon-cycle feedbacks in a coupled climate model. Nature 408:184–187
Delwiche CF, Sharkey TD (1993) Rapid appearence of C-13 in biogenic isoprene when (CO2)–C-13 is fed to intact leaves. Plant Cell Environ 16:587–591
Fang CW, Monson RK, Cowling EB (1996) Isoprene emission, photosynthesis, and growth in sweetgum (Liquidambar styraciflua) seedlings exposed to short- and long-term drying cycles. Tree Physiol 16:441–446
FAO (1995) Forest Products 1991–1995. Forestry Series 30, Statistic series 137. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome
Fenning M, Gershenzon J (2002) Where will the wood come from? Plantation forests and the role of biotechnology. Trends Biotech 20:291–296
Funk JL, Mak JE, Lerdau MT (2004) Stress-induced changes in carbon sources for isoprene production in Populus deltoides. Plant Cell Environ 27:747–755
Guenther AB, Hills AJ (1998) Eddy covariance measurement of isoprene fluxes. J Geophys Res A 103:13145–13152
Guenther AB, Monson RK, Fall RR (1991) Isoprene and monoterpene emission rate variability—observations with Eucalyptus and emission rate algorithm development. J Geophys Res A 96:10799–10808
Guenther AB, Hewitt CN, Erickson D, Fall RR, Geron CD, Graedel T, Harley PC, Klinger L, Lerdau M, Mckay WA, Pierce T, Scholes B, Steinbrecher R, Tallamraju R, Taylor J, Zimmerman P (1995) A global model of natural volatile organic compound emissions. J Geophys Res A 100:8873–8892
Guenther AB, Archer S, Greenberg JP, Harley PC, Helmig D, Klinger L, Vierling L, Wildermuth M, Zimmerman P, Zitzer S (1999) Biogenic hydrocarbon emissions and landcover/climate change in a subtropical savanna. Phys Chem Earth (B) 24:659–667
Harley PC, Monson RK, Lerdau MT (1999) Ecological and evolutionary aspects of isoprene emission from plants. Oecologia 118:109–123
Houghton JT, Ding Y, Griggs DJ, van der Linden PJ, Xiaosu D (2001) Climate change 2001: the scientific basis. Contribution of working group I to the third assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change (IPCC). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Karl T, Fall R, Rosenstiel TN, Prazeller P, Larsen B, Seufert G, Lindinger W (2002) On-line analysis of the (CO2)–C-13 labeling of leaf isoprene suggests multiple subcellular origins of isoprene precursors. Planta 215:894–905
Kudeyarov VN, Ponizovskii AA, Bil KY, Blagodatsky SA, Semenov VM, Kuznetsova TV, Alekseev AO, Kudeyarova AY, Murthy R (2002) Soil in the intensive forestry biome at the Biosphere 2 station, Columbia University (Arizona, United States). Eurasian Soil Sci 35:S34–S45
Lin GH, Marino BDV, Wei YD, Adams J, Tubiello FN, Berry JA (1998) An experimental and modeling study of responses in ecosystems carbon exchanges to increasing CO2 concentrations using a tropical rainforest mesocosm. Aust J Plant Physiol 25:547–556
Loreto F, Sharkey TD (1990) A gas-exchange study of photosynthesis and isoprene emission in Quercus rubra L. Planta 182:523–531
Loreto F, Mannozzi M, Maris C, Nascetti P, Ferranti F, Pasqualini S (2001) Ozone quenching properties of isoprene and its antioxidant role in leaves. Plant Physiol 126:993–1000
Loreto F, Pinelli P, Brancaleoni E, Ciccioli P (2004) C-13 labeling reveals chloroplastic and extrachloroplastic pools of dimethylallyl pyrophosphate and their contribution to isoprene formation. Plant Physiol 135:1903–1907
Mead R, Curnow RN (1983) Statistical methods in agriculture and experimental biology. Chapman& Hall, London
Monson RK, Fall RR (1989) Isoprene emission from aspen leaves—influence of environment and relation to photosynthesis and photorespiration. Plant Physiol 90:267–274
Monson RK, Holland EA (2001) Biospheric trace gas fluxes and their control over tropospheric chemistry. Annu Rev Ecol Syst 32:547–560
Murthy R, Barron-Gafford G, Dougherty PM, Engel VC, Grieve K, Handley L, Klimas C, Potosnak MJ, Zarnoch SJ, Zhang RY (2004) Increased leaf area dominates carbon flux response to elevated CO2 in stands of Populus deltoides (Bartr.) and underlies a switch from canopy light-limited CO2 influx in well-watered treatments to individual leaf, stomatally-limited influx under water stress. Global Change Biol (in press)
Osmond B, Ananyev G, Berry JA, Langdon C, Kolber Z, Lin G, Monson R, Nichol C, Rasher U, Schurr U, Smith S, Yakir D (2004) Changing the way we think about global change research: scaling up in experimental ecosystem science. Global Change Biol 10:1–16
Pegoraro E, Rey A, Greenberg J, Harley P, Grace J, Malhi Y, Guenther A (2004a) Effect of drought on isoprene emission rates from leaves of Quercus virginiana Mill. Atmos Environ 38:6149–6156
Pegoraro E, Rey A, Malhi Y, Bobich EG, Barron-Gafford G, Grieve K, Murthy R (2004b) Effect of CO2 concentration and vapour pressure deficit on isoprene emission from leaves of Populus deltoides during drought. Funct Plant Biol 31:1–11
Poisson N, Kanakidou M, Crutzen PJ (2000) Impact of non-methane hydrocarbons on tropospheric chemistry and the oxidizing power of the global troposphere: 3-dimensional modelling results. J Atmos Chem 36:157–230
Potvin C, Lechowicz MJ, Tardif S (1990) The statistical-analysis of ecophysiological response curves obtained from experiments involving repeated measures. Ecology 71:1389–1400
Rapparini F, Baraldi R, Miglietta F, Loreto F (2004) Isoprenoid emission in trees of Quercus pubescens and Quercus ilex with lifetime exposure to naturally high CO2 environment. Plant Cell Environ 27:381–391
Rosenstiel TN, Potosnak MJ, Griffin KL, Fall R, Monson RK (2003) Increased CO2 uncouples growth from isoprene emission in an agriforest ecosystem. Nature 421:256–259
Rosenthal Y (1998) Variations of ecosystem gas exchange in the rain forest mesocosm at Biosphere 2 in response to elevated CO2. Global Change Biol 4:539–547
Rosenthal Y, Farnsworth B, Romo FVR, Lin GH, Marino BDV (1999) High quality, continuous measurements of CO2 in Biosphere 2 to assess whole mesocosm carbon cycling. Ecol Eng 13:249–262
Schnitzler JP, Graus M, Kreuzwieser J, Heizmann U, Rennenberg H, Wisthaler A, Hansel A (2004) Contribution of different carbon sources to isoprene biosynthesis in poplar leaves. Plant Physiol 135:152–160
Scholefield PA, Doick KJ, Herbert BMJ, Hewitt CNS, Schnitzler JP, Pinelli P, Loreto F (2004) Impact of rising CO2 on emissions of volatile organic compounds: isoprene emission from Phragmites australis growing at elevated CO2 in a natural carbon dioxide spring. Plant Cell Environ 27:393–401
Sharkey TD, Loreto F (1993) Water-stress, temperature, and light effects on the capacity for isoprene emission and photosynthesis of kudzu leaves. Oecologia 95:328–333
Sharkey TD, Loreto F, Delwiche CF (1991) High-carbon dioxide and sun shade effects on isoprene emission from oak and aspen tree leaves. Plant Cell Environ 14:333–338
Tingey DT, Evans RC, Gumpertz ML (1981) Effects of environmental conditions on isoprene emission from live oak. Planta 152:565–570
Torbert HA, Johnson HB (2001) Soil of the intensive agriculture biome of Biosphere 2. J Soil Water Cons 56:4–11
Trainer M, Williams EJ, parrish DD, Buhr MP, Allwine EJ, Westberg HH, Fehsenfeld FC, Liu SC (1987) Models and observations of the impact of natural hydrocarbons on rural ozone. Nature 329:705–707
Tubiello FN, Lin G, Druitt JW, Marino BDV (1999) Ecosystem-level evapotranspiration and water-use efficiency in the desert biome of Biosphere 2. Ecol Eng 13:263–271
Acknowledgements
Emiliano Pegoraro was supported by a graduate student stipend from a program enhancement grant provided by the Office of the Executive Vice Provost, Columbia University (Dr Michael Crow) and by Edward P. Bass, with equipment support from the Packard Foundation. Dr. Ana Rey is currently supported by a personal Fellowship granted by the Ministry of Education and Science of Spain (Ramon y Cajal Programme). The authors thank Professor Barry Osmond for advice in the course of the project, and Jordi Martínez-Vilalta for advice on the statistical analysis. We declare that the experiments comply with the current laws of the country in which they were performed.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
Communicated by Christian Koerner
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Pegoraro, E., Rey, A., Barron-Gafford, G. et al. The interacting effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 concentration, drought and leaf-to-air vapour pressure deficit on ecosystem isoprene fluxes. Oecologia 146, 120–129 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0166-5
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-005-0166-5