2-15: Plant Physiological Effects of a Changing Environment

Pre-Class Preparation

Objectives

• To understand how a plant uses carbon dioxide and how they respond to elevated levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
• To understand the concept of water-use efficiency and how this relates to present and future atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide.

Procedure

1. Read the learning unit.

   Class images

2. Take the summary information quiz. Quizzes are available from your portfolio.

3. Additional Related Reading. Although you are not ultimately responsible for content listed in this section, we encourage you to fully explore the links in order to provide a better scope on the upcoming class discussion.

   Houghton, J. T., L. G. Meira Filho, B. A. Callander N. Harris, A. Kattenberg, and K. Maskell, 1996:Climate Change 1995. The Science of Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, 449-454.

Class Discussion

• Problem to ponder...The functioning of a city can be analyzed by applying the concept of "urban metabolism". In plant ecosystem metabolism, inputs to the system include water (perhaps containing some contamination), carbon dioxide, solar energy, nutrients, etc. and outputs include plant carbon, water (perhaps less than input, but possibly with less contamination), oxygen, infrared radiation, etc. What are the inputs and outputs of urban metabolism?

• Class Discussion Summary:

Post-Class Activities

• Participate in the electronic dialog. Use this forum for:
  • continuing class discussion;
  • posing new questions to students or the instructor;
  • responding to issues/questions raised by students in class/electronic dialog.

• Recommended Reading Materials

  Houghton, J.T., G.J. Jenkins, J.J. Ephraums, eds, 1990: 1990 Intergovernment Panel on Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, 289-300.

• References

  	UN Millennium Ecosystem Assessment
  	Soil, Water, and Crop Characteristics Important to Irrigation Scheduling
  	C3/C4 Metabolism
  	Biodiversity Glossary of Terms
  	Knapp, A. K., and M. D. Smith, 2001: Variation among biomes in temporal dynamics of aboveground primary production. Science 291, 481-484.
  	Duarte, C. M., and S. Agusti, 1998: The CO2 balance of productive aquatic ecosystems. Science 281, 234-236.
  	Field, C. B., M. J. Behrenfeld, J. T. Randerson, and P. Falkowski, 1998: Primary production of the biosphere: Integrating terrestrial and oceanic components. Science 281, 237-240.
  	Jones, T. H., L. J. Thompson, J. H. Lawton, T. M. Bezemer, R. D. Bardgett, T. M. Balckburn, K. D. Bruce, P. F. Cannon, G. S. Hall, S. E. Harley, G. Howson, C. G. Jones, C. Kampichler, E. Kandeler, and D. A. Ritchie, 1998: Impacts of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide on model terrestrial ecosystems. Science 280, 441-442.
  	Myneni,R.B., C.D. Keeling, C.J.Tucker, G.Asrar and R.R. Nemani, 1997: Increased Plant Growth in the Northern High Latitudes from 1981 to 1991. Nature, 386, 698-702.
  	Omasa, K., K. Kai, H. Taoda, Z. Uchijima, and M. Yoshino, 1996: Climate Change and Plants in East Asia. Springer-Verlag, Tokyo, 215 pp.
  	In November 1991, a workshop entitled "CO2 and Biosphere" was held in Wageningen, The Netherlands. Thirty-two pages from that workshop are compiled in the journal Vegetation, Vol. 104/105 (January 1993). This is an excellent source of recent research information on how plants respond to changes in CO2.