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The mechanisms controlling the photosynthetic performance of C4 plants at low temperature were investigated using ecotypes of Bouteloua gracilis Lag. from high (3000 m) and low (1500 m) elevation sites in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. Plants were grown in controlled-environment cabinets at a photon flux density of 700 μmol m−2 s−1 and day/night temperatures of 26/16 °C or 14/7 °C. The thermal response of the net CO2 assimilation rate (A) was evaluated using leaf gas-exchange analysis and activity assays of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco), phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPCase) and pyruvate,orthophosphate dikinase (PPDK). In both ecotypes, a reduction in measurement temperature...
Water use and carbon acquisition were examined in a northern Utah population of Juniperus osteosperma (Torr.) Little. Leaf-level carbon assimilation, which was greatest in the spring and autumn, was limited by soil water availability. Gas exchange, plant water potential and tissue hydrogen stable isotopic ratio (deltaD) data suggested that plants responded rapidly to summer rain events. Based on a leaf area index of 1.4, leaf-level water use and carbon acquisition scaled to canopy-level means of 0.59 mm day(-1) and 0.13 mol m(-2) ground surface day(-1), respectively. Patterns of soil water potential indicated that J. osteosperma dries the soil from the surface downward to a depth of about 1 m. Hydraulic redistribution...
The aridland shrub species, Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush) and Chrysothamnus nauseosus (rubber rabbitbrush), are distributed widely in the Intermountain region of western North America. Earlier research indicated that A. tridentata can utilize upper soil water from transient summer rain events while C. nauseosus apparently cannot, although both species have similar rooting depths. Thus, we hypothesized that C. nauseosus relies more on deep water than A. tridentata, while A. tridentata can take advantage of soil moisture in upper soil layers. We examined this hypothesis by growing A. tridentata and C. nauseosus in two-layer pots in which soil water content in the upper and lower layers was controlled independently....
Circumstantial evidence suggests that Artemisia tridentata may out?compete Pinus ponderosa and P. jefferyi for water at ecotones between shrub steppe and montane forest vegetation in the Great Basin. Other studies indicate that within the shrub steppe Artemisia may act as a nurse plant for a third species of pine, P. monophylla. We used field experiments to study these contrasting effects of Artemisia on P. ponderosa and P. monophylla within the context of the distributional patterns in western Nevada of all three species on andesite, and on sites where hydrothermal activity has altered the andesite. At intermediate elevations in the Great Basin Artemisia and P. monophylla are restricted to unaltered desert soils,...
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Populus fremontii (Fremont cottonwood) was once a dominant species in desert riparian forests but has been increasingly replaced by the exotic invasive Tamarix ramosissima (saltcedar). Interspecific competition, reduced flooding frequency, and increased salinity have been implicated in the widespread decline of P. fremontii. To elucidate some of the multiple and interacting mechanisms of this decline, we examined ecological processes in a control stand of P. fremontii along the Colorado River in Utah, USA, as well as a disturbed stand characterized by high groundwater salinity and invasion of T. ramosissima. Sap flux data showed that P. fremontii at the saline site experienced large reductions in afternoon canopy...
1. Microclimate was measured and photosynthetic responses to a climate warming manipulation were compared for the evergreen shrub Artemisia tridentata and the herbaceous forb Erigeron speciosus in the Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA. 2. Soil was warmer and drier under infra-red heaters compared with control plots. 3. Midday xylem pressure potential did not differ for A. tridentata on heated vs control plots but was lower for E. speciosus on heated plots compared with controls. Leaf temperatures did not vary for the two species on heated or control plots. 4. There were no significant treatment or species differences in the diurnal patterns of CO2 assimilation or stomatal conductance to water vapour. Also, there were...
* 1 In western North America, juniper trees (Juniperus spp.) are apparently encroaching into numerous communities including sagebrush-dominated (Artemisia tridentata) valleys, where, as density of juniper increases, the density and condition of sagebrush decline but juniper condition appears unaffected. * 2 We examined stable isotope proxies of plant gas exchange and relative depth of soil water extraction of Juniperus osteosperma and Artemisia tridentata as their relative densities changed across a transition zone in northern Utah, USA. Measurement of 13C and 18O of foliage allowed separation of the contributions of stomatal and biochemical factors to differences in mean intercellular CO2 concentration, while deuterium...
    map background search result map search result map Carbon acquisition and water use in a Northern Utah Juniperus osteosperma (Utah juniper) population. Gas exchange and growth responses of the desert shrubs Artemisia tridentata and Chrysothamnus nauseosus to shallow- vs. deep-soil water in a glasshouse experiment Shifts in depth of water extraction and photosynthetic capacity inferred from stable isotope proxies across an ecotone of Juniperus osteosperma (Utah juniper) and Artemisia tridentata (big sagebrush) Ecohydrology in a Colorado River riparian forest: implications for the decline of Populus fremontii Ecohydrology in a Colorado River riparian forest: implications for the decline of Populus fremontii