Elevated CO2 stimulates associative N2 fixation in a C3 plant of the Chesapeake Bay wetland.
Dakora, F.D. Drake, B.G.
Dakora, F.D.
Drake, B.G.
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Abstract
In this study, the response of N2 fixation to elevated CO2 was measured in Scirpus olneyi, a C3 sedge, and Spartina patens, a C4 grass, using acetylene reduction assay and 15N2 gas feeding. Field plants grown in PVC tubes (25 cm long,
10 cm internal diameter) were used. Exposure to elevated CO2 significantly (P < 0·05) caused a 35% increase in nitrogenase activity and 73% increase in 15N incorporated by Scirpus olneyi. In Spartina patens, elevated CO2 (660 ± 1 mmol mol-1) increased nitrogenase activity and 15N incorporation by 13 and 23%, respectively. Estimates showed that the rate of N2 fixation in Scirpus olneyi under elevated CO2 was 611 ± 75 ng 15N fixed plant-1 h-1 compared with 367 ± 46 ng 15N fixed plant-1 h-1 in ambient CO2 plants. In Spartina patens, however, the rate of N2 fixation was 12·5 ± 1·1 versus 9·8 ± 1·3 ng 15N fixed plant-1 h-1 for elevated and ambient CO2, respectively. Heterotrophicnon-symbiotic N2 fixation in plant-free marsh sediment also increased significantly (P < 0·05) with elevated CO2. The proportional increase in 15N2 fixation correlated with the relative stimulation of photosynthesis, in that N2 fixation was high in the C3 plant in which photosynthesis was also high, and lower in the C4 plant in which photosynthesis was relatively less stimulated by growth in elevated CO2. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that carbon fixation in C3 species, stimulated by rising CO2, is likely to provide additional carbon to endophytic and below-ground microbial processes.
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Date
2000-01-01
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Wiley
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Keywords
Elevated CO2, C3 and C4, Species, N2 fixation, A % X (atom % 15N excess)