Photosynthetic and growth response to fumigation with SO2 at elevated CO2 for C3 and C4 plants

Six early successional plant species with differing photosynthetic pathways (3 C₃ species and 3 C₄ species) were grown at either 300, 600, or 1,200 ppm CO₂ and at either 0.0 or 0.25 ppm SO₂. Total plant growth increased with CO₂ concentration for the C₃ species and varied only slightly with CO₂ for the C₄ species. Fumigation with SO₂ caused reduced growth of the C₃ species at 300 ppm CO₂ but not at the higher concentrations of CO₂. Fumigation with SO₂ reduced growth of the C₄ species at high CO₂ and increased growth at 300 ppm CO₂. Leaf area increased with increasing CO₂ for all plant species. Fumigation with SO₂ reduced leaf area of C₃ plants more at low CO₂ than at high CO₂ while leaf area of C₄ plants was reduced more at high CO₂ than at low CO₂. These results support the notion that C₃ species are more sensitive to SO₂ fumigation than are C₄ species at concentrations of CO₂ equal to that found in normal ambient air. However, the difference in sensitivity to SO₂ between C₃ and C₄ species was found to be reversed at higher concentrations of CO₂. A possible explanation for this reversal based upon differences in stomatal response to elevated CO₂ between C₃ and C₄ species is discussed.