Plant Physiological Responses to Climate and Environmental Change

Guy F Midgley, South African National Biodiversity Institute, Pretoria, South Africa

Published online: September 2007

DOI: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0003205

A future climate and environmental regime will affect plant physiology and induce higher order responses. Implications of rising atmospheric carbon dioxide are positive for plant growth, but less so than predicted from the theory of photosynthesis, because of feedback effects within the plant, and from ecosystem level feedback effects. Rising temperatures will reduce freezing and chill stress incidence, but warming will increase metabolic rates. High extremes will induce heat-shock responses. Higher plants are physiologically well-defended against projected increases in UV-B. Interactions between stresses will be multifaceted, but theory is poorly developed to make projections of their net result. A focus on testing theory using field-based experiments will be an important way forward.

Keywords: acclimation; global change; heat shock; photosynthesis; respiration; stress

Figure 1. Projected shifts in (a) temperature and (b) rainfall according to IPCC A2 development scenarios. From Houghton et al., 2001.
Figure 2. Idealized photosynthetic carbon dioxide response curves, showing the distinction between net fixation rate of typical C4 (bold line) and C3 (fine line) plant species at the leaf level.
Figure 3. Agriculturally important stress combinations. Different combinations of biotic and abiotic stresses are presented in the form of a matrix to demonstrate potential interactions that can have important implications for agriculture. Different interactions are color coded to indicate potential negative (i.e. enhanced damage or lethality owing to the stress combination (purple)) or potential positive (i.e. cross-protection owing to the stress combination (green)) effects of the stress combination on plant health. However, the potential effects of stress combination could vary depending on the relative level of each of the different stresses combined (e.g. acute versus low) and the type of plant or pathogen involved. From Mittler 2006.
Figure 4. Three examples of field-based methods for investigating carbon dioxide impacts on plants and ecosystems. A free air carbon dioxide enrichment (FACE) ring at Sky Oaks experimental site in chaparral vegetation, California, USA (upper panel). Open top chambers placed on a mixed C3/C4 marshland system in the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center field site, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland, USA (lower left panel). Branch bag fumigation system installed in a managed Sitka spruce plantation near Penicuik, Midlothian, Scotland (lower right panel).
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    book Lovejoy TE and Hannah L (eds) (2005) Climate Change and Biodiversity. 51 New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.

Related Sub-Topics:

Physiological Ecology | Ecological Effects of Climate Change | Plant Ecology | Photosynthesis | Plant Responses to the Environment
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Article Title: Plant Physiological Responses to Climate and Environmental Change
 
How to Cite close
Midgley, Guy F(Sep 2007) Plant Physiological Responses to Climate and Environmental Change. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1002/9780470015902.a0003205]