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Growth and nitrogen accretion of dinitrogen-fixing Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. under elevated carbon dioxide

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Abstract

Short-term studies of tree growth at elevated CO2 suggest that forest productivity may increase as atmospheric CO2 concentrations rise, although low soil N availability may limit the magnitude of this response. There have been few studies of growth and N2 fixation by symbiotic N2-fixing woody species under elevated CO2 and the N inputs these plants could provide to forest ecosystems in the future. We investigated the effect of twice ambient CO2 on growth, tissue N accretion, and N2 fixation of nodulated Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. grown under low soil N conditions for 160 d. Root, nodule, stem, and leaf dry weight (DW) and N accretion increased significantly in response to elevated CO2. Whole-plant biomass and N accretion increased 54% and 40%, respectively. Delta-15N analysis of leaf tissue indicated that plants from both treatments derived similar proportions of their total N from symbiotic fixation suggesting that elevated CO2 grown plants fixed approximately 40% more N than did ambient CO2 grown plants. Leaves from both CO2 treatments showed similar relative declines in leaf N content prior to autumnal leaf abscission, but total N in leaf litter increased 24% in elevated compared to ambient CO2 grown plants. These results suggest that with rising atmospheric CO2 N2-fixing woody species will accumulate greater amounts of biomass N through N2 fixation and may enhance soil N levels by increased litter N inputs.

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Author notes

  1. Richard B. Thomas*

    Present address: Department of Biology, University of West Virginia, Morgantown, WV, 26506, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, The Ohio State University, 1735 Neil Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Christoph S. Vogel & Peter S. Curtis

  2. Biological Station, The University of Michigan, Pellston, MI, 49769, USA

    Christoph S. Vogel & Peter S. Curtis

  3. Department of Botany, Duke University, Durham, NC, 27708, USA

    Richard B. Thomas*

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  1. Christoph S. Vogel
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  2. Peter S. Curtis
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  3. Richard B. Thomas*
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Vogel, C.S., Curtis, P.S. & Thomas*, R.B. Growth and nitrogen accretion of dinitrogen-fixing Alnus glutinosa (L.) Gaertn. under elevated carbon dioxide. Plant Ecology 130, 63–70 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1009783625188

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