Plant Responses to Elevated Carbon Dioxide - Evidence from Natural Springs

Hardback  ISBN 0521582032      £60.00

The rise in the concentration of CO₂ in the atmosphere since the start of industrialisation, and the global warming associated with this greenhouse gas, has stimulated research into the response of plants to elevated levels of CO₂. Much of this work has been carried out in controlled environments which provide limited information about long-term effects on vegetation. In contrast, CO₂-emitting mineral springs provide a unique opportunity to consider vegetation which has endured over many generations at naturally elevated levels of CO₂. This volume presents findings from a range of sites, confirming the potential of these natural laboratories in the investigation of this important aspect of climate change. The chapter headings are as follows:

• Sites of naturally-elevated CO₂
• Migration in the ground of CO₂ and other volatile contaminants. Theory and survey
• Levels of CO₂ leakage in relation to geology
• CO₂ emission in volcanic areas: case histories and hazards
• Controlled degassing of lakes with high CO₂ content in Cameroon: an opportunity for ecosystem CO₂ -enrichment experiments
• Burning coal seams in southern Utah: a natural system for studies of plant responses to elevated CO₂
• Long-term effects of enhanced CO₂ concentrations on leaf gas exchange: research opportunities using CO₂ springs
• Using Icelandic CO₂ springs to understand the long-term effects of elevated atmospheric CO₂
• Plant-CO₂ responses in the long term: plants from CO₂ springs in Florida and tombs in Egypt
• Acidophilic grass communities of CO₂ springs in central Italy: composition, structure and ecology
• Studying morpho-physiological responses of Scirpus lacustris from naturally CO₂ -enriched environments
• Carbon physiology of Quercus pubescens wild. Growing at the Bossoleto CO₂ spring in central Italy
• Preliminary results on dissolved inorganic ¹³C and ¹⁴C content of a CO₂ -rich mineral spring of Catalonia (NE Spain) and of plants growing in its surroundings
• The impact of elevated CO₂ on the growth of Agrostis canina and Plantago major adapted to contrasting CO₂ concentrations
• Stomatal numbers in holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) leaves grown in naturally and artificially CO₂ enriched environments
• Effects of CO₂ on NH⁴⁺ assimilation by Cyanidium caldarium, an acidophilic hot springs and hot soils unicellular alga
• Can rising CO₂ alleviate oxidative risk for the plant cell? Testing the hypothesis under natural CO₂ enrichment
• Increasing concentration of atmospheric CO₂ and decomposition processes in forest ecosystems
• Index.

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Cambridge University Press : agriculture & forestry : atmosphere and air pollution : carbon cycle : cell biology : climate change : ecology : environmental impact : environmental science : phycology : plant science