Growth and senescence in plant communities exposed to elevated CO2 concentrations on an estuarine marsh

P S Curtis; B G Drake; P W Leadley; W J Arp; D F Whigham

doi:10.1007/BF00377193

Growth and senescence in plant communities exposed to elevated CO₂ concentrations on an estuarine marsh

Oecologia. 1989 Jan;78(1):20-26. doi: 10.1007/BF00377193.

Authors

P S Curtis¹, B G Drake¹, P W Leadley¹, W J Arp¹, D F Whigham¹

Affiliation

¹ Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, Box 28, 21037, Edgewater, MD, USA.

PMID: 28311897
DOI: 10.1007/BF00377193

Abstract

Three high marsh communities on the Chesapeake Bay were exposed to a doubling in ambient CO₂ concentration for one growing season. Open-top chambers were used to raise CO₂ concentrations ca. 340 ppm above ambient over monospecific communities of Scirpus olneyi (C₃) and Spartina patens (C₄), and a mixed community of S. olneyi, S. patens, and Distichlis spicata (C₄). Plant growth and senescence were monitored by serial, nondestructive censuses. Elevated CO₂ resulted in increased shoot densities and delayed sensecence in the C₃ species. This resulted in an increase in primary productivity in S. olneyi growing in both the pure and mixed communities. There was no effect of CO₂ on growth in the C₄ species. These results demonstrate that elevated atmospheric CO₂ can cause increased aboveground production in a mature, unmanaged ecosystem.

Keywords: Elevated CO2; Productivity; Salt marsh; Scirpus olneyi; Spartina patens.