Plant Physiol. (1999) 120: 1183-1192
Does Free-Air Carbon Dioxide Enrichment Affect Photochemical
Energy Use by Evergreen Trees in Different Seasons? A Chlorophyll
Fluorescence Study of
Mature Loblolly Pine1
Graham J. Hymus,
David S. Ellsworth,
Neil R. Baker, and
Stephen P. Long*
Department of Biological Sciences, John Tabor Laboratories,
University of Essex, Wivenhoe Park, Colchester CO4 3SQ, United Kingdom
(G.J.H., N.R.B., S.P.L.); Environmental Biology and Instrumentation
Division, Building 318, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, New York
11973 (D.S.E.); and Departments of Crop Sciences and Plant Biology,
University of Illinois, 190 Edward R. Madigan Laboratory, West Gregory
Drive, Urbana, Illinois 61801 (S.P.L.)
 |
ABSTRACT |
Previous studies of the effects of
growth at elevated CO2 on energy partitioning in the
photosynthetic apparatus have produced conflicting results. The
hypothesis was developed and tested that elevated CO2
increases photochemical energy use when there is a high demand for
assimilates and decreases usage when demand is low. Modulated
chlorophyll a fluorescence and leaf gas exchange were
measured on needles at the top of a mature, 12-m loblolly pine
(Pinus taeda L.) forest. Trees were exposed to ambient
CO2 or ambient plus 20 Pa CO2 using free-air
CO2 enrichment. During April and August, periods of shoot
growth, light-saturated photosynthesis and linear electron transport
were increased by elevated CO2. In November, when growth
had ceased but temperatures were still moderate, CO2
treatment had no significant effect on linear electron transport. In
February, when low temperatures were likely to inhibit translocation,
CO2 treatment caused a significant decrease in linear
electron transport. This coincided with a slower recovery of the
maximum photosystem II efficiency on transfer of needles to the shade,
indicating that growth in elevated CO2 induced a more
persistent photoinhibition. Both the summer increase and the winter
decrease in linear electron transport in elevated CO2 resulted from a change in photochemical quenching, not in the efficiency of energy transfer within the photosystem II antenna. There
was no evidence of any effect of CO2 on photochemical
energy sinks other than carbon metabolism. Our results suggest that
elevated CO2 may increase the effects of winter stress on
evergreen foliage.
 |
INTRODUCTION |
Most previous studies of the effects of elevated
pCO2 on photosynthesis have focused on
carbon assimilation and metabolism (for review, see Drake et al.,
1997
). Changes in carbon assimilation at elevated
pCO2 necessitate changes in the
partitioning of absorbed energy between heat dissipation and
photochemistry in the thylakoid membrane (Pammenter et al., 1993
;
Valentini et al., 1995
; Drake et al., 1997
). Modulated chlorophyll
a fluorescence enables direct analysis of these processes
(Ghashghaie and Cornic, 1994
; Valentini et al., 1995
). Previous
fluorescence studies have shown contrasting effects of long-term
elevation of pCO2 on
photochemistry.
For instance, in young wheat plants exposed to
elevated pCO2, a greater
proportion of the absorbed light is used in photochemistry at high
light (Habash et al., 1995
). Such an increase in photochemical energy
dissipation should diminish reversible photoinhibition, which would be
evident as an increase in
Fv/Fm.
Consistent with this expectation, Jones et al. (1995)
observed a higher
midday Fv/Fm in
the evergreen tree Arbutus unedo growing at elevated pCO2 in the field under drought
stress. In contrast, Scarascia-Mugnozza et al. (1996)
showed decreased
photochemistry and increased photoinhibition in Quercus ilex
at elevated pCO2 under drought
in the field. Similarly, Roden and Ball (1996)
observed a lower
Fv/Fm in
Eucalyptus macrorhyncha grown at elevated
pCO2 during a heat stress
treatment. This variation might be explained by differences in
limitations to photosynthesis by carbon metabolism.
Following the theoretical model of Farquhar et al. (1980)
and
subsequent modification by Sharkey (1985)
, photosynthesis at light
saturation may be limited by: (a) the amount of active Rubisco; (b) the
rate of regeneration of RubP; and (c) the rate of Pi release by TPU
(Harley et al., 1992
). If photosynthesis is limited by the amount of
active Rubisco, elevation of
pCO2 will increase energy use
in photochemistry and therefore electron flux through PSII
(JPSII). Because Rubisco is not
CO2 saturated at the present atmospheric
pCO2, an increase in
pCO2 results in an increase in vc that is larger than the decrease in
vo. Therefore, there will be an
increase in the use of NADPH and in turn an increase in JPSII. When RubP regeneration is
limiting, an increase in pCO2 will result in an increase in vc,
which is exactly offset by a decrease in
vo (Drake et al., 1997
). Therefore,
although there will be a net increase in CO2
uptake, the rate of NADPH utilization and
JPSII will be unaffected. When TPU is
limiting, vc will not increase with an
increase in pCO2, but
vo will be decreased by inhibition of
the oxygenation reaction (Sharkey, 1985
). CO2
uptake will be unaffected by elevated
pCO2, but the use of NADPH, and in turn JPSII, will be decreased. For
example, at 25°C and using the parameters of Harley et al. (1992)
, an
increase in pCO2 from 36 to 56 Pa would result in a 16% increase in
JPSII if Rubisco was limiting, no
change in JPSII if RubP was limiting,
and a 14% decrease in JPSII if TPU
was limiting. This analysis assumes that elevated
pCO2 does not alter the rate of
electron use by other processes such as Mehler reactions and nitrogen
metabolism. However, there is no evidence that substantial changes in
sinks for JPSII occur in elevated
pCO2 (Epron et al., 1994
;
Habash et al., 1995
; Bartak et al., 1996
). Acclimatory losses of
Rubisco or capacity for RubP regeneration have been observed in situ
under elevated pCO2 (e.g.
Gunderson and Wullschleger, 1994
; Oechel et al., 1994
; Curtis, 1996
;
Bryant et al., 1998
; Rogers et al., 1998
) and would complicate this
conceptual model.
In evergreen species the limitation to light-saturated photosynthesis
is likely to change with season. In these species photosynthesis continues throughout the times of the year when growth is
environmentally restricted, e.g. by low temperature. At low
temperatures, in which translocation may be inhibited, TPU limitation
may occur (Socias et al., 1993
). During periods of active growth,
demand for carbohydrates may be high and photosynthesis limited by the
amount of active Rubisco. From this conceptual framework, we developed
the following hypothesis.
Elevated pCO2 has different
effects on photochemistry, depending on the season. During the major
periods of growth, light-saturated photosynthesis is limited by the
amount of active Rubisco and elevated
pCO2 increases
JPSII, leading to decreased
photoinhibition. During times of the year when growth has ceased and
translocation may be inhibited by low temperature, photosynthesis is
limited by TPU and elevated
pCO2 decreases
JPSII, leading to increased photoinhibition.
The FACE facility at the Duke Forest in North Carolina provided an
opportunity to test these hypotheses. This experiment exposed mature,
12-m evergreen loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) trees to a pCO2 elevated 20 Pa above the
current ambient level in open air (Hendrey et al., 1999
). The lack of
an enclosure was ideal for studying photoinhibition, which could be
substantially decreased by the lower light levels within chamber
enclosures (McLeod and Long, 1999
). Moreover, mature trees have a large
sink capacity and defined seasonal patterns of growth, yet have
received little attention in terms of their response to elevated
pCO2 (Lee and Jarvis, 1995
;
Saxe et al., 1998
).
 |
MATERIALS AND METHODS |
The study site was a 32-ha even-aged P. taeda (loblolly
pine) plantation in Duke Forest, NC (35o58
N,
79o05
W). The forest was located on clay-rich
soils with low nitrogen and phosphorus availability (Ellsworth et al.,
1995
). The pine trees were 15 years old and 12 m tall in the
summer of 1997. FACE technology was used to elevate ambient
pCO2 by 20 Pa in three 30 m diameter circular forest plots (Lewin et al., 1994
). The system has
been described in detail elsewhere and is only briefly outlined here
(Hendrey et al., 1999
). Each ring was surrounded by a plenum connected
via computer-controlled valves to 15-m vertical vent pipes.
According to windspeed and direction, jets of air enriched in
CO2 are released at a range of heights to
maintain a uniform enriched
pCO2 through the canopy within
each ring.
Each elevated pCO2 ring was
paired with an identical control ring in which air was added at the
same volume and direction, but without
pCO2 enrichment. Elevated
pCO2 fumigation was maintained over 24 h except when ambient air temperatures dropped below 5°C (December-March). The mean
pCO2 recorded at 1-min
intervals throughout 1997 was 54.6 Pa in the treatment rings and 38 Pa
over a 24-h period in the controls. Access to the canopy surface was
via a central tower and telescopic platform (UL40, Upright, Charlotte, NC) within each ring.
Our first measurements were made within days of the start of
CO2 fumigation in this FACE facility in September
1996. This foliage had appeared in April 1996 and had therefore
developed fully under ambient
pCO2. Subsequent measurements
on this foliage cohort were made in February and April 1997. Measurements in August 1997, November 1997, and February 1998 were on
foliage that had appeared in April of 1997 and had therefore developed
fully under elevated pCO2.
Measurements were also made in September 1996 in a FACE-prototype ring
of the design described above, which had been established in 1993. The
vegetation had been fumigated at a
pCO2 of 55 Pa during each
growing season (May-October) since 1993 (Ellsworth et al., 1995
;
Hendrey et al., 1999
).
In Situ Chlorophyll a Fluorescence
A modulated chlorophyll fluorimeter and leaf clip (PAM 2000, Walz) were used to measure diurnal variation in
Fo
,
Fm
, and Fs following the method of Nogues et
al. (1998)
.
PSII,
qP, and Fv
/Fm
were determined from each measurement of
Fo
,
Fm
, and Fs (Genty et al., 1989
). Fascicle
absorptance of
was determined using a quantum sensor and an
external integrating sphere (LI-1800-12, LI-COR) following the
procedures of Rackham and Wilson (1968)
. JPSII was estimated from
PSII using measured values of
and assuming
that 50% of absorbed photon flux was distributed to PSII (Krall and
Edwards, 1992
; Ghashghaie and Cornic, 1994
). Measurements of
Fo and
Fm were made following dark adaptation
for 10 min to determine
Fv/Fm. All
of the above measurements were made under prevailing light conditions
on two fully expanded fascicles from sun-exposed, upper-crown branches
(10-12 m high) of each of three trees in each of the six rings at
approximately 2-h intervals from sunrise to sunset. Trees sampled were
within 10 m of the center of the ring, where
pCO2 is most homogeneous
(Hendrey et al., 1999
). Measurements were also made in the prototype
FACE ring in September 1996 by the procedures described above for the other rings.
The recovery of
Fv/Fm was
monitored in situ as follows. In full sun between 12 and 2 PM,
Fv
/Fm
was measured, the branch was shaded (PPFD < 50 µmol
m
2 s
1), and
Fv/Fm was
measured at intervals for 60 min. Three fascicles on one branch in one
control and one elevated ring were measured.
Photosynthetic Gas Exchange
A was measured at ambient PPFD using a portable open
gas-exchange system (CIRAS-1, PP Systems, Hitchin, UK) as described by Ellsworth (1999)
. As with fluorescence measurements, fascicles at the
top of the canopy were selected and their natural orientation and
inclination were retained during measurement. The
pCO2 within the leaf chamber
was maintained at the growth
pCO2. Temperature and leaf-air
vapor pressure differences within the leaf chamber were maintained near
ambient levels. Fascicle surface area was calculated using the method
of Johnson (1984)
. On each date the fluorescence was measured, leaf gas
exchange was measured between 11 AM and 3 PM, sampling one fascicle from one to three trees in each of the six rings. Measurements were made in parallel with the
above fluorescence measurements on separate fascicles but from the same
populations.
Light Response of CO2 Uptake and Fluorescence
To separate developmental differences and long-term effects due to
elevated pCO2 from any change
induced by exposure to high light during the day, measurements were
also made on fascicles collected around dawn. Fascicles of the
populations used in the diurnal studies described above were cut under
water, transferred to a controlled environment, and maintained in low
light until measured. Measurements were made within 2 h of
collection. The responses of A,
JPSII,
PSII,
Fv
/Fm
,
and qP to PPFD were determined simultaneously on individual fascicles in April, August, and November 1997 and in February 1998. A leaf gas exchange system (LI 6400, LI-COR)
incorporating a controlled environment cuvette modified to accept the
fiber optics from a modulated fluorimeter (PAM 2000) was used.
Measurements were made at PPFD from 0 to 1,600 µmol
m
2 s
1 provided by a
quartz iodide source, and were made at the mean midday Tleaf and humidities observed in the
diurnal measurements. Measurements in April, August, and November were
made at Tleaf = 22.0°C ± 0.1°C, 26.0°C ± 0.1°C, and 18.0°C ± 0.2°C,
respectively. In February 1998 the measurements were made at
Tleaf = 19.0°C ± 0.2°C. In all months, measurements were made in both 21 and 1 kPa
pO2 (Scott Specialty Gases, Durham,
NC). At least two fascicles from all six rings were measured on each
occasion. From the response of A to PPFD,
CO2 was calculated as (A + RL)/(PPFD ×
), where
RL is the rate of
CO2 evolution after 2 to 3 min in the dark. The relationship of
PSII to
CO2 in 1 kPa
pO2 was used to determine any effect
of growth pCO2 on the magnitude
of alternative sinks for electron flux (Genty et al., 1989
; Edwards and
Baker, 1993
).
Statistical Analysis
Two-way ANOVA was used to test the effect of growth
pCO2 and time of year on
chlorophyll fluorescence and gas exchange parameters at light
saturation both in situ and on the excised fascicles (SYSTAT
Inc., Evanston, IL). To avoid pseudoreplication, means for each
parameter were calculated for every ring and subsequently treated as
the individual, giving a sample size of n = 3 per
treatment for statistical analyses. For measurements made in the
FACE-prototype experiment individual fascicles were the replicates. The
effect of pCO2 treatment on the
slope and intercept of the relationship between
PSII and
CO2 was
examined by regression ANOVA. The derived chlorophyll fluorescence
parameters
PSII,
Fv
/Fm
,
Fv
/Fm
,
and qP, were arcsine-transformed prior
to statistical analysis (Sokal and Rohlf, 1981
).
 |
RESULTS |
Skies were clear throughout the measurement days. With the
exception of February 1997, temperatures were typical of the season (Fig. 1, p-t). In February 1997 the
maximum day temperature was high (19°C), however the previous night
had been
5°C and the average daily minimum for the month was zero,
with below-zero minimum temperatures on 20 d within the month.
Minima were similar in February 1998, although the lower daily maximum
illustrated for 1998 is more typical of this month.

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| Figure 1.
a to e, A at midday; f to j,
diurnal variation in JPSII; k to o, ratio of
elevated/current (E/C) pCO2 measurements of
JPSII at light saturation; and p to t,
Tair and PPFD for 5 sunny days in different
seasons from February 1997 to February 1998. White bars and symbols are
for trees growing at current ambient pCO2
and black bars and symbols are for trees growing at elevated
pCO2. Symbols shown are the means ± 1 SE.
|
|
Under the warm conditions of August 1997, when substantial growth was
occurring, the total electron flux through PSII
(JPSII), and therefore the proportion
of absorbed light energy used in photochemisty, was strongly and
significantly enhanced by elevated pCO2. This only applied to the
period when photon flux was saturating, i.e. above 700 µmol
m
2 s
1 (Fig. 1, h and m;
Table I). At lower photon fluxes
JPSII was unaffected by
pCO2, which is consistent with
the expected transition in limitation of photosynthesis from Rubisco to
RubP regeneration rate (Fig. 1h).
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|
Table I.
In situ measurements of photosynthesis
Summary of the two-way ANOVA to test for the effects of growth
pCO2 (F1,20), time
of year (F4,20), and their interaction
(F4,20) on light-saturated
JPSII, A, qP,
Fv /Fm , and PPFD;
* denotes significance at P > 0.05. When the
interaction between growth pCO2 and time
of year was significant (P > 0.05), the effect of
pCO2 was tested for each sampling date
using Tukey's pairwise comparison; bold text indicates significance at
P < 0.1.
|
|
The increase in JPSII at light
saturation corresponded to a highly significant 65% enhancement of
A around noon of the same day (Fig. 1c; Table I). Similar
enhancements in JPSII were observed in
September 1996 in both the full experiment, 1 week after
pCO2 elevation began, and in
the parallel prototype experiment (Hendrey et al., 1999
), in
which the trees had been exposed to elevated pCO2 for the three preceding
summers (Table II). A smaller but significant enhancement of JPSII and
A was observed in April in the early part of the growing
season (Fig. 1, b, g, and l; Table I). By sharp contrast, in February
of both years there were significant decreases in
JPSII under elevated
pCO2, showing that less of the absorbed energy was being utilized by photochemistry (Fig. 1, f and j;
Table I). Moreover, there was a progressive decrease in
JPSII over the course of the day at
elevated pCO2 relative to
controls, which may indicate development of increased TPU limitation at
elevated pCO2 (Fig. 1k). During
February there was no growth, and freezing temperatures probably
inhibited translocation. A slight increase in A due to
elevated pCO2 was observed at
midday in February 1997; the indicated increase in February 1998 was not significant (Fig. 1, a and e; Table I). Although enhancement of
JPSII was indicated for November 1997, soon after the end of the growing season, this was not significant
(Fig. 1i).
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Table II.
Midday mean chlorophyll fluorescence parameters in
September 1996
JPSII,
Fv /Fm and
qP were measured on sun-exposed branches in two
FACE experiments during September 1996: (a) The FACE prototype, which
was a single elevated pCO2 ring and
control that had been operated over three consecutive growing seasons
prior to these measurements. (b) The adjacent full experiment of three
replicate elevated and three replicate current
pCO2 rings that had been operated for
just 1 week prior to these measurements. Values are the means
(SE) for two fascicles measured on each of three trees in
the prototype ring and a control ring; and means (SE) for
the three replicate elevated and control
pCO2 rings in the full experiment.
Two-way ANOVA tested the effect of pCO2
(F1,14), experiment
(F1,14), and their interaction
(F1,14) on each parameter. F values
for the effect of pCO2 are shown,
*indicates P < 0.05; n.s. indicates P > 0.05. No interaction was found for any of the parameters
(F1,14 < 3.2; P > 0.05).
E/C indicates the ratio of JPSII and
qP measured at elevated
pCO2 to that measured at the current
ambient pCO2.
JPSII is expressed in µmol m 2
s 1, Fv /Fm
and qP are dimensionless.
|
|
Variations in JPSII may be analyzed by examining
the causes of the change in
PSII, which,
assuming an equal distribution of absorbed energy between the two
photosystems, is equal to the ratio of
JPSII to twice the absorbed photon
flux (Fig. 2, a-e). Variation in
PSII is the product of variation in
qP and
Fv
/Fm
. Over the year,
elevated pCO2 has little effect on
Fv
/Fm
,
with variation in
PSII resulting from a change
in qP (Fig. 2, f-o). This would be
consistent with a limitation downstream of PSII, as would occur if the
demand for NADPH in carbon metabolism changed. In February 1997 elevated pCO2 depressed
qP relative to controls, with the
converse effect in August (Fig. 2, f and h). Although elevated
pCO2 produced no obvious effect
on
Fv
/Fm
,
the diurnal minimum
Fv/Fm
determined after 10 min of dark adaptation was significantly lower at
elevated pCO2 in February
(F1,8 = 21.5; P < 0.05), yet was unaffected in other months (Fig. 2, p-t).

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| Figure 2.
Diurnal variation in PSII (a-e),
qP (f-j),
Fv /Fm (k-o),
and Fv/Fm (p-t)
for elevated ( ) and current ( ) pCO2
measured on the same tissue and at the same times as the measurements
illustrated in Figure 1.
|
|
There was no significant change in Fo
between dawn and the point at which
Fv/Fm was
minimal, in February 1997 (F1,8 = 3.1; P < 0.05) and February 1998 (F1,8 = 0.3; P < 0.05) (data
not shown). Recovery of
Fv/Fm was
slower at elevated pCO2 in
February, giving a significant separation between
pCO2 treatments after about 3 min of recovery. This was still clearly evident after 60 min of dark
adaptation (Fig. 3). Had there been any
systematic difference in PPFD between the FACE and control samples,
this could have caused differences in fluorescence parameters. However,
the PPFD was almost identical between CO2
treatments (F1,20 = 0.1; P = 0.76; Table I).

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| Figure 3.
Effect of elevated pCO2
on the recovery of
Fv/Fm
after transfer to shade in the early afternoon. Days shown are in:
February 1997 (a), April 1997 (b), August 1997 (c), and February 1998 (d). Points shown are the means of three measurements made on
sun-exposed branches sampled from the same population measured in
Figures 1 and 2. A negative exponential curve was fitted to the
points illustrated. Symbols are as in Figure 1.
|
|
Samples of fascicles were excised before dawn and measured later in a
controlled-environment cuvette. This revealed potential photosynthesis
in the absence of photoinhibition, water stress, or the TPU limitation
that might develop over a diurnal course. Significant enhancement of
A and JPSII in the elevated
pCO2 treatment was seen in
these excised fascicles regardless of the time of year (Table
III). These increases showed that both
the lack of enhancement of A and the inhibition of
JPSII observed in the same tissues in
situ was a temporary property developed on exposure to light during the
day, and was not the result of long-term acclimation to elevated
pCO2. Enhancement of
JPSII in the excised fascicles again
corresponded to a significant enhancement of
qP but not Fv
/Fm
(Table III). In all seasons, light saturation of A occurred at photon flux densities of about 700 µmol m
2
s
1 (data not shown). Regression of
PSII against
CO2
showed no significant effect of elevated
pCO2 on the ratio of the rates of whole-chain electron transport through PSII to
CO2 assimilation in the absence of
photorespiration (Fig. 4). There was no
significant effect of elevated
pCO2 on either the slope or the
intercept of this relationship in November 1997 (Fig. 4), April 1997 (data not shown), or February 1998 (data not shown). On no occasion was
the intercept significantly greater than zero.
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Table III.
Light-saturated photosynthetic characteristics
Mean (SE) Asat,
JPSII, PSII,
qP, and
Fv /Fm at a PPFD of
1,600 µmol m 2 s 1 for April, August and
November 1997 and February 1998 of the three replicate rings for each
pCO2 treatments. Fascicles were excised
under water around dawn and maintained in low light until measured in a
controlled-environment gas exchange cuvette. Measurements were made at
a pCO2 of 36 Pa for the controls and at
55 Pa for the elevated CO2 grown fascicles. The effects of
pCO2
(F1,16), time of year
(F3,16), and their interaction
(F3,16) were tested for significance
using two way ANOVA. *** denotes P < 0.001; * denotes
P < 0.05. Asat and
JPSII, are expressed in µmol m 2
s 1. PSII, qP, and
Fv /Fm are
dimensionless.
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|

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| Figure 4.
Relationship of PSII to
CO2 determined simultaneously on fascicles from each
elevated and each control pCO2 ring in
November 1997. The line indicates the least-square best fit to the data
for each pCO2 treatment. White symbols and
the dashed line are for trees growing at current ambient
pCO2 and black symbols and the solid line
are for trees growing at elevated pCO2. The
intercept of each regression was not significantly different from zero
(F1,46 = 1.7; P < 0.05), and no
significant effect of pCO2 was found on the
relationship between PSII and CO2
(F1,46 = 0.1; P < 0.05).
|
|
 |
DISCUSSION |
Our results agree with our initial hypothesis that the effects of
elevated pCO2 on photochemistry
will differ in a predictable manner with the time of year. In August
and April, periods of significant growth for these trees,
JPSII was increased at elevated pCO2 when light was saturating
(Fig. 1, l and m). Conversely, in February of both years, elevated
pCO2 depressed
JPSII at light saturation (Fig. 1, k
and o). These results agree with the theoretical prediction that the
amount of active Rubisco will limit light-saturated photosynthesis
during the major periods of photosynthate demand and that TPU will
limit it during the winter, when growth has ceased and translocation
may be limited by the low mean temperature. In February of both years
the daily minima were at or below 0°C and were therefore likely to
restrict translocation. The suggestion that the amount of active
Rubisco is limiting during August and April is consistent with the loss
of the pCO2-dependent increase in JPSII, as light decreases over the
diurnal course (Fig. 1, g and h).
As PPFD drops below the saturating level, a transition from limitation
of Rubisco to RubP regeneration would be expected, eliminating any
effect on JPSII. Responses of
A to ci determined for
these needles also indicated that in the absence of TPU limitation the
amount of active Rubisco rather than the capacity for RubP regeneration
is the major limitation to light-saturated photosynthesis (data not
shown) (Myers et al., 1999
). Fascicles excised under water around dawn
during February and transferred to an illuminated, controlled-environment cuvette showed stimulation of both A
and JPSII in elevated
pCO2 (Table III). This suggests
that the fascicles grown in elevated
pCO2 had the capacity to
respond to elevated pCO2 with
increased A and JPSII, but
that this was not realized in the in situ diurnal measurements. One
explanation of this result would be that sugar phosphates could
accumulate more rapidly in the early part of the day, leading to TPU
limitation in the elevated pCO2
treatment. This explanation is consistent with the progressive decline
in the ratio of JPSII at elevated to
ambient pCO2 observed in
February 1997 (Fig. 1k). In the absence of photosynthetic acclimation and within the context of the three potential limitations to
light-saturated photosynthesis of the model of Farquhar et al. (1980)
as modified by Sharkey (1985)
, these changes could only be explained by
TPU limitation.
An acclimatory loss of Rubisco or capacity for RubP regeneration
would also cause a decrease in JPSII.
However, parallel studies of the responses of CO2
uptake to intercellular CO2 concentration (A/Ci) gave no evidence in vivo of any
loss of Rubisco activity or capacity for RubP regeneration in any
season (Ellsworth, 1999
; Myers et al., 1999
). Growth at elevated
pCO2 could also affect JPSII if it decreases alternative
sinks for electrons, in particular Mehler reactions or photosynthetic
nitrogen metabolism. For example, Polle et al. (1993
, 1997)
showed a
decrease in the activity of enzymes associated with the metabolism of
active oxygen species under elevated
pCO2. A significant alternative
sink would be apparent as a change in the relationship between the
efficiencies of electron transport and CO2
uptake. However, there was no effect of
pCO2 on this relationship when
measured in the absence of photorespiration (Fig. 4), as has been
observed previously (Epron et al., 1994
; Habash et al., 1995
; Bartak et
al., 1996
).
Although
Fv
/Fm
declined with increasing photon flux, it was unaffected by elevated
pCO2 despite significant
effects on JPSII. Increased
JPSII in the summer and decreased
JPSII in the winter were paralleled by
changes in qP (Fig. 2). This shows
that variations in electron flux due to growth in elevated
pCO2 at different times of the
year result from variations in the proportion of open PSII reaction
centers rather than from any effect on the efficiency with which
absorbed quanta are transferred to the reaction center. This is
consistent with altered rates of electron transport at light saturation
resulting from variations in the capacity of processes downstream of
PSII to accept electrons. These results also suggest that
Fv
/Fm
is not simply driven by electron flux, since significant changes in
JPSII caused by elevated
pCO2 do not appear to affect
the efficiency of energy transfer to the reaction center. Habash et al.
(1995)
found that increased electron transport in young wheat plants
growing at elevated pCO2 in a controlled environment corresponded to increased
qP without an effect on
Fv
/Fm
.
Photoinhibition has been defined as a reversible decrease in the
efficiency of excitation energy transfer to PSII reaction centers. This
serves to protect the reaction centers from photoinactivation and
damage when the rate of excitation of PSII is in excess of the rate at
which the reaction centers can use excitation energy for photochemistry
(Osmond, 1994
). The cost of this protection is that when a leaf is in
low light after photoinhibition, the efficiency of photosynthesis
remains low for many minutes, and sometimes hours, with the loss of
potential carbon fixation (Long et al., 1994
). We anticipated that a
decrease in PSII photochemistry in the winter due to elevated
pCO2 would increase
photoinhibition and decrease the maximum potential for carbon fixation.
Elevated pCO2 produced
significant reductions in
Fv/Fm in
February of both years, however, no effect was observed on
Fv
/Fm
.
This was assumed to result from an increase in light-induced quenching
processes being considerably greater than the quenching remaining in
the dark-adapted fascicles used for the
Fv/Fm
measurements (Fig. 2). Since there were no significant effects of
elevated pCO2 on
Fo, the reduced
Fv/Fm was
almost certainly associated with zeaxanthin quenching. A slow recovery
of Fv/Fm
(requiring more than 10 h) in maize leaves growing at chilling
temperature was shown previously to be associated with the conversion
of zeaxanthin to violaxanthin (Fryer et al., 1995
). Therefore, the
slower recovery of
Fv/Fm in
plants grown at elevated pCO2
is indicative of the imposition of an additional stress during the
winter, which is not experienced by the control plants. Other evidence
that overwintering leaves may be subjected to increased stress at
elevated pCO2 is provided by
Lutze et al. (1998)
who showed increased frost damage to
Eucalyptus pauciflora seedling leaves at elevated
pCO2.
In conclusion, this study has shown that for mature trees, elevated
pCO2 can cause both decreases
and increases in the use of absorbed light energy in photochemistry,
which is consistent with seasonal changes in limitations on
photosynthetic carbon metabolism. In the summer, elevated
pCO2 results in significantly more of the absorbed light being used in photochemistry and a decreased
potential for photoinhibition, although no significant effect of
pCO2 on photoinhibition was
observed. Utilization of absorbed energy within the photosynthetic
apparatus appears to be strongly inhibited under elevated
pCO2 during the winter
period, and this correlates with a slower recovery from
photoinhibition compared with ambient trees. These results suggest that
elevated pCO2 may add a further
stress to overwintering evergreen vegetation in temperate regions.
 |
FOOTNOTES |
1
G.J.H. was supported by a studentship from the
Natural Environment Research Council (United Kingdom). This research is
part of the Forest-Atmosphere Carbon Transfer and Storage (FACTS-1) project at Duke Forest. The FACTS-1 project is supported by the U.S.
Department of Energy (DOE), Office of Health and Environmental Research, under DOE contract nos. DE-ACO2-76CH00016 at Brookhaven National Laboratory and DE-FG05-95ER62083 at Duke University.
*
Corresponding author; e-mail stevel{at}life.uiuc.edu; fax
217-244-7563.
Received December 23, 1998;
accepted May 12, 1999.
 |
ABBREVIATIONS |
Abbreviations:
A, net rate of CO2
uptake per unit leaf area (µmol m
2 s
1).
, leaf absorptance between 400-700 nm.
FACE, free-air
CO2 enrichment.
Fo, Fm, minimum and maximum dark-adapted
fluorescence yield, respectively.
Fo
, Fm
, Fs, minimum,
maximum, and steady-state light-adapted fluorescence yield,
respectively.
Fv/Fm, quantum
efficiency of PSII photochemistry in the dark-adapted stateFvprime/Fmprime,
probability of an absorbed photon reaching an open PSII reaction
center.
JPSII, estimated rate of linear
electron flow through PSII (µmol m
2 s
1).
pCO2, partial pressure of CO2
(Pa).
CO2, quantum efficiency of CO2
fixation corrected for leaf absorption.
PSII, quantum
efficiency of linear electron transport through PSII.
qP, photochemical quenching coefficient.
RL, estimate of the rate of respiratory
CO2 efflux in the light (µmol m
2
s
1).
Tleaf, leaf temperature
(°C).
TPU, triose phosphate utilization.
vc, velocity of carboxylation.
vo, velocity of oxygenation.
 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS |
We thank all of the staff at the FACTS-1 site. Particular thanks
go to Andrew Palmiotti, Matthew Giles, and Elke Naumburg for their help
and advice.
 |
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