Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Sites of naturally elevated carbon dioxide
- Migration in the ground of CO2 and other volatile contaminants. Theory and survey
- Levels of CO2 leakage in relation to geology
- CO2 emission in volcanic areas: case histories and hazards
- Controlled degassing of lakes with high CO2 content in Cameroon: an opportunity for ecosystem CO2-enrichment experiments
- Burning coal seams in southern Utah: a natural system for studies of plant responses to elevated CO2
- Long-term effects of enhanced CO2 concentrations on leaf gas exchange: research opportunities using CO2 springs
- Using Icelandic CO2 springs to understand the long-term effects of elevated atmospheric CO2
- Plant CO2 responses in the long term: plants from CO2 springs in Florida and tombs in Egypt
- Acidophilic grass communities of CO2 springs in central Italy: composition, structure and ecology
- Studying morpho-physiological responses of Scirpus lacustris from naturally CO2-enriched environments
- Carbon physiology of Quercus pubescens Wild, growing at the Bossoleto CO2 spring in central Italy
- Preliminary results on dissolved inorganic 13C and 14C content of a CO2-rich mineral spring of Catalonia (NE Spain) and of plants growing in its surroundings
- The impact of elevated CO2 on the growth of Agrostis canina and Plantago major adapted to contrasting CO2 concentrations
- Stomatal numbers in holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) leaves grown in naturally and artificially CO2-enriched environments
- Effects of CO2 on NH4+ assimilation by Cyanidium caldarium, an acidophilic hot springs and hot soils unicellular alga
- Can rising CO2 alleviate oxidative risk for the plant cell? Testing the hypothesis under natural CO2 enrichment
- Increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 and decomposition processes in forest ecosystems
- Index
Acidophilic grass communities of CO2 springs in central Italy: composition, structure and ecology
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 10 February 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- Sites of naturally elevated carbon dioxide
- Migration in the ground of CO2 and other volatile contaminants. Theory and survey
- Levels of CO2 leakage in relation to geology
- CO2 emission in volcanic areas: case histories and hazards
- Controlled degassing of lakes with high CO2 content in Cameroon: an opportunity for ecosystem CO2-enrichment experiments
- Burning coal seams in southern Utah: a natural system for studies of plant responses to elevated CO2
- Long-term effects of enhanced CO2 concentrations on leaf gas exchange: research opportunities using CO2 springs
- Using Icelandic CO2 springs to understand the long-term effects of elevated atmospheric CO2
- Plant CO2 responses in the long term: plants from CO2 springs in Florida and tombs in Egypt
- Acidophilic grass communities of CO2 springs in central Italy: composition, structure and ecology
- Studying morpho-physiological responses of Scirpus lacustris from naturally CO2-enriched environments
- Carbon physiology of Quercus pubescens Wild, growing at the Bossoleto CO2 spring in central Italy
- Preliminary results on dissolved inorganic 13C and 14C content of a CO2-rich mineral spring of Catalonia (NE Spain) and of plants growing in its surroundings
- The impact of elevated CO2 on the growth of Agrostis canina and Plantago major adapted to contrasting CO2 concentrations
- Stomatal numbers in holm oak (Quercus ilex L.) leaves grown in naturally and artificially CO2-enriched environments
- Effects of CO2 on NH4+ assimilation by Cyanidium caldarium, an acidophilic hot springs and hot soils unicellular alga
- Can rising CO2 alleviate oxidative risk for the plant cell? Testing the hypothesis under natural CO2 enrichment
- Increasing concentrations of atmospheric CO2 and decomposition processes in forest ecosystems
- Index
Summary
SUMMARY
The results of a study on the composition, the ecology and the structure of grass communities developed close around six mineral CO2-springs in central-western Italy are reported. The phytosociological sampling of the grasslands surrounding the gas vents has led to the circumscription of an azonal endemic association, the Agrostidetum caninae subsp. monteluccii, which was characterized by a strong species poorness and a high ecological specialization. The typical monospecific stands were developed on peatlike soils with pH ranging between 2.4 and 3.7 and a content of soluble aluminium well above the toxicity thresholds known within the Al-tolerant gen. Agrostis. On the basis of published data and preliminary measurements of atmospheric CO2 concentration, it is known that this association is developed in areas with elevated levels of atmospheric CO2, a factor which could contribute to enhancing the competitive capacity of its dominant species within the natural vegetation. Indeed, above-ground biomass, canopy height and other structural parameters of A. canina revealed its outstanding vegetative vigour in the monospecific grassland close around the vents. On the contrary, in the peripheral areas of the CO2 springs a decreased vigour in A. canina accounted for the different structure and density observed in the grass community and probably also for its different species composition. The syntaxonomical placing of the Agrostidetum is not immediate because of the absence in the European literature of other works on geothermal acidophilic vegetation. Therefore, despite some ecological affinities with oligotrophic species-poor communities of European acidic fens and mires of the Scheuchzerio-Caricetea fuscae, the syntaxonomical placing requires further coenological investigation of geothermal sites on a broader geographical scale.
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- Plant Responses to Elevated CO2Evidence from Natural Springs, pp. 114 - 133Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1997
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