Drought stress signals in modern and subfossil Quercus laurifolia (Fagaceae) leaves reflect winter precipitation in southern Florida tied to El Nino-Southern Oscillation activity

Effects of experimental warming on Betula nana epidermal cell growth tested over its maximum climatological growth range

Numerous long-term, free-air plant growth facilities currently explore vegetation responses to the ongoing climate change in northern latitudes. Open top chamber (OTC) experiments as well as the experimental set-ups with active warming focus on many facets of plant growth and performance, but information on morphological alterations of plant cells is still scarce. Here we compare the effects of in-situ warming on leaf epidermal cell expansion in dwarf birch, Betula nana in Finland, Greenland, and Poland. The localities of the three in-situ warming experiments represent contrasting regions of B. nana distribution, with the sites in Finland and Greenland representing the current main distribution in low and high Arctic, respectively, and the continental site in Poland as a B. nana relict Holocene microrefugium. We quantified the epidermal cell lateral expansion by microscopic analysis of B. nana leaf cuticles. The leaves were produced in paired experimental treatment plots with either artificial warming or ambient temperature. At all localities, the leaves were collected in two years at the end of the growing season to facilitate between-site and within-site comparison. The measured parameters included the epidermal cell area and circumference, and using these, the degree of cell wall undulation was calculated as an Undulation Index (UI). We found enhanced leaf epidermal cell expansion under experimental warming, except for the extremely low temperature Greenland site where no significant difference occurred between the treatments. These results demonstrate a strong response of leaf growth at individual cell level to growing season temperature, but also suggest that in harsh conditions other environmental factors may limit this response. Our results provide evidence of the relevance of climate warming for plant leaf maturation and underpin the importance of studies covering large geographical scales.

Climate forcing due to optimization of maximal leaf conductance in subtropical vegetation under rising CO2

Plant physiological adaptation to the global rise in atmospheric CO(2) concentration (CO(2)) is identified as a crucial climatic forcing. To optimize functioning under rising CO(2), plants reduce the diffusive stomatal conductance of their leaves (g(s)) dynamically by closing stomata and structurally by growing leaves with altered stomatal densities and pore sizes. The structural adaptations reduce maximal stomatal conductance (g(smax)) and constrain the dynamic responses of g(s). Here, we develop and validate models that simulate structural stomatal adaptations based on diffusion of CO(2) and water vapor through stomata, photosynthesis, and optimization of carbon gain under the constraint of a plant physiological cost of water loss. We propose that the ongoing optimization of g(smax) is eventually limited by species-specific limits to phenotypic plasticity. Our model reproduces observed structural stomatal adaptations and predicts that adaptation will continue beyond double CO(2). Owing to their distinct stomatal dimensions, angiosperms reach their phenotypic response limits on average at 740 ppm and conifers on average at 1,250 ppm CO(2). Further, our simulations predict that doubling today's CO(2) will decrease the annual transpiration flux of subtropical vegetation in Florida by ≈60 W·m(-2). We conclude that plant adaptation to rising CO(2) is altering the freshwater cycle and climate and will continue to do so throughout this century.

Global CO2 rise leads to reduced maximum stomatal conductance in Florida vegetation

A principle response of C3 plants to increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO(2) (CO(2)) is to reduce transpirational water loss by decreasing stomatal conductance (g(s)) and simultaneously increase assimilation rates. Via this adaptation, vegetation has the ability to alter hydrology and climate. Therefore, it is important to determine the adaptation of vegetation to the expected anthropogenic rise in CO(2). Short-term stomatal opening-closing responses of vegetation to increasing CO(2) are described by free-air carbon enrichments growth experiments, and evolutionary adaptations are known from the geological record. However, to date the effects of decadal to centennial CO(2) perturbations on stomatal conductance are still largely unknown. Here we reconstruct a 34% (±12%) reduction in maximum stomatal conductance (g(smax)) per 100 ppm CO(2) increase as a result of the adaptation in stomatal density (D) and pore size at maximal stomatal opening (a(max)) of nine common species from Florida over the past 150 y. The species-specific g(smax) values are determined by different evolutionary development, whereby the angiosperms sampled generally have numerous small stomata and high g(smax), and the conifers and fern have few large stomata and lower g(smax). Although angiosperms and conifers use different D and a(max) adaptation strategies, our data show a coherent response in g(smax) to CO(2) rise of the past century. Understanding these adaptations of C3 plants to rising CO(2) after decadal to centennial environmental changes is essential for quantification of plant physiological forcing at timescales relevant for global warming, and they are likely to continue until the limits of their phenotypic plasticity are reached.