John and his colleagues published a new study in Tree Physiology investigating whether there is substantial within-species variation in tree response to elevated concentrations of carbon dioxide eCO2. The work was led by Mike Aspinwall at the University of North Florida. Measuring photosynthesis in the greenhouse. Photo by Renee Smith. Eucalyptus camaldulensis is an extremely widely-distributed tree species in Australia. These widely distributed species are expected to contain substantial genetic variation, as genotypes are expected to be adapted to their local environmental conditions. This genetic variation may cause some trees to respond differently to eCO2 than others. Growth from small cuttings to saplings. Photos by Renee Smith. Despite the large geographic and climatic distance between the seed sources, we actually found little evidence that different genotypes will respond differently to eCO2. Most of the genotypes displayed higher rates of photosynthesis and growth under eCO2. There was some variation, and genotypes that had large increases in photosynthetic nitrogen use efficiency and large increases in root mass fraction showed the largest growth responses to eCO2.
This work implies that eCO2 is likely to positively affect the growth of trees across the wide range of this species. However we note that other aspects of climate change, notable droughts and heatwaves, are likely to dampen or eliminate this positive effect of eCO2 on tree growth.
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Tree ecophysiology at SUNY-ESF Archives
October 2022
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