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Effects of an Experimental Increase of Temperature and Drought on the Photosynthetic Performance of Two Ericaceous Shrub Species Along a North–South European Gradient

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Abstract

Plant ecophysiological changes in response to climatic change may be different in northern and southern European countries because different abiotic factors constrain plant physiological activity. We studied the effects of experimental warming and drought on the photosynthetic performance of two ericaceous shrubs (Erica multiflora and Calluna vulgaris) along a European gradient of temperature and precipitation (UK, Denmark, The Netherlands, and Spain). At each site, a passive warming treatment was applied during the night throughout the whole year, whereas the drought treatment excluded rain events over 6–10 weeks during the growing season. We measured leaf gas exchange, chlorophyll a fluorescence, and leaf carbon isotope ratio (δ13C) during the growing seasons of 1999 and 2000. Leaf net photosynthetic rates clearly followed a gradient from northern to southern countries in agreement with the geographical gradient in water availability. Accordingly, there was a strong correlation between net photosynthetic rates and the accumulated rainfall over the growing season. Droughted plants showed lower leaf gas exchange rates than control plants in the four sites. Interestingly, although leaf photosynthetic rates decreased along the precipitation gradient and in response to drought treatment, droughted plants were able to maintain higher leaf photosynthetic rates than control plants in relation to the accumulated rainfall over the months previous to the measurements. Droughted plants also showed higher values of potential photochemical efficiency (F v/F m) in relation to controls, mainly at midday. The warming treatment did not affect significantly any of the studied instantaneous ecophysiological variables.

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Acknowledgments

This research was supported by the EU projects CLIMOOR (UE-DG XII ENV4-CT97- 0694) and VULCAN (EVK2-CT-2000-00094) and by MCYT-REN2000-0278/CLI and MCYT-REN2001-0003/GLO grants from the Spanish government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Unitat d’Ecofisiologia CSIC–CEAB–CREAF, CREAF (Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici C, 08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain

    Laura Llorens, Josep Peñuelas & Marc Estiarte

  2. RISØ National Laboratory, P.O. Boxs 49, DK-4000 Roskilde, Denmark

    Claus Beier

  3. Center for Ecology and Hydrology–Bangor, Deiniol Rd., Gwynedd LL57 2UP, Bangor, United Kingdom;

    Bridget Emmett

  4. Center for Geo-ecological Research (ICG), Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED)–Physical Geography, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Achtergracht 166, 1018 WV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Albert Tietema

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  1. Laura Llorens
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  2. Josep Peñuelas
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Correspondence to Laura Llorens.

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Llorens, L., Peñuelas, J., Beier, C. et al. Effects of an Experimental Increase of Temperature and Drought on the Photosynthetic Performance of Two Ericaceous Shrub Species Along a North–South European Gradient. Ecosystems 7, 613–624 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10021-004-0180-1

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