© 2004 Heron Publishing—Victoria, Canada
Effects of elevated CO2 concentration on growth, annual ring structure and photosynthesis in Larix kaempferi seedlings
Kenichi Yazaki (1, 2), Sachie Ishida (1), Takayuki Kawagishi (1), Eitaro Fukatsu (1, 3), Yutaka Maruyama (4), Mitsutoshi Kitao (4), Hiroyuki Tobita (4), Takayoshi Koike (5) and Ryo Funada (1, 6, 7)
1. Laboratory of Wood Biology, Graduate School of Agriculture, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-8589, Japan
/ 2. Laboratory of Ecophysiology, Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Tsukuba 305-8687, Japan / 3. Forest Tree Breeding Center, Juo-Ibaraki 319-1301, Japan / 4. Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Hokkaido Research Center, Sapporo 062-8516, Japan / 5. Hokkaido University Forests, Hokkaido University, Sapporo 060-0809, Japan / 6. Faculty of Agriculture, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, Fuchu-Tokyo 183-8509, Japan / 7. Corresponding author (funada@cc.tuat.ac.jp) / Received June 27, 2003; accepted January 24, 2004; published online July 1, 2004
Summary
We evaluated the effects of elevated carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) and two nutrient regimes on stem growth rate, annual ring structure and temporal variations in photosynthetic characteristics
of seedlings of Japanese larch (Larix kaempferi (Lamb.) Carr.). Seedlings were grown in phytotron chambers in an ambient (360 ppm) or an elevated (720 ppm) [CO2] in two nutrient regimes for one growing season. Elevated [CO2] reduced stem height and increased stem basal diameter compared with ambient [CO2]. The effect of elevated [CO2] on growth tended to be greater at high-nutrient supply than at low-nutrient supply. Elevated [CO2] had no significant effect on ring width or the number of tracheids per radial file. There was no obvious difference in cell
wall thickness or the relative area of the cell wall between seedlings grown in ambient or elevated [CO2]. Although growth in elevated [CO2] resulted in a slight increase in cell diameter, the increase had a relatively minor effect on the relative area of the cell
wall. Net assimilation rate increased in response to elevated [CO2]; however, the increase in whole-crown photosynthetic rate (Total Agrowth) in seedlings in the elevated [CO2] treatment was minimal because of the smaller specific needle area and acclimation of the photosynthetic characteristics
of the needles to the growth [CO2]. In conclusion, we observed no obvious enhancement in the capacity for carbon fixation in Japanese larch seedlings grown
in the presence of elevated [CO2] that might be attributable to changes in stem growth. However, elevated [CO2] caused changes in the temporal pattern of stem growth and in some anatomical features of the tracheids.
Keywords:
annual ring characteristics, Japanese larch, photosynthetic acclimation, stem growth, tracheid dimensions.
