Photosynthetic responses to 30 years of atmospheric change

Plant physiological studies of responses to atmospheric CO2 concentration most frequently involve artificially increasing local CO2 concentration. However, CO2 levels in the atmosphere have already risen by more than 100 ppm over pre-industrial levels, and the response to that increase should also be considered. I measured changes in leaf-level photosynthesis over the most recent 50-60 ppm rise in atmospheric CO2, using photosynthetic studies from the late 1970s and early 1980s as a baseline. The study encompassed 17 plant species at three sites in California. The sites covered a rainfall range of 40 to 1000 mm year-1, and a mean annual temperature range of 12 to 24 oC. Species included annual forbs, perennial shrubs, and trees. Over the 30 years since the previous studies were carried out, leaf-level photosynthesis at ambient CO2 has risen by an average of 0.8 μmol m-2 s-1, a nonsignificant change. Stomatal conductance has declined, such that water use efficiency has increased by an average of 12.7%. The largest changes in photosynthetic characteristics were observed at the desert site.