Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- I Introductory Chapters
- II Ecophysiology
- 3 Climatic Responses and Limits of Bryophytes: Comparisons and Contrasts with Vascular Plants
- 4 Effects of Elevated Air CO2 Concentration on Bryophytes: a Review
- 5 Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Light and UV Acclimation in Mosses
- III Aquatic Bryophytes
- IV Desert and Tropical Ecosystems
- V Alpine, Arctic, and Antarctic Ecosystems
- VI Sphagnum and Peatlands
- VII Changes in Bryophyte Distribution with Climate Change: Data and Models
- VIII Conclusions
- Index
- References
4 - Effects of Elevated Air CO2 Concentration on Bryophytes: a Review
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 October 2012
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of contributors
- Preface
- I Introductory Chapters
- II Ecophysiology
- 3 Climatic Responses and Limits of Bryophytes: Comparisons and Contrasts with Vascular Plants
- 4 Effects of Elevated Air CO2 Concentration on Bryophytes: a Review
- 5 Seasonal and Interannual Variability of Light and UV Acclimation in Mosses
- III Aquatic Bryophytes
- IV Desert and Tropical Ecosystems
- V Alpine, Arctic, and Antarctic Ecosystems
- VI Sphagnum and Peatlands
- VII Changes in Bryophyte Distribution with Climate Change: Data and Models
- VIII Conclusions
- Index
- References
Summary
Introduction
The concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere has been increasing over the past two centuries from about 280 ppm to a present value of 360 ppm, and is expected to reach more than twice the pre-industrial concentration in this century (Houghton et al. 1990). Variations in atmospheric CO2 concentration are nothing new; CO2 concentrations were higher or lower during some earlier geological periods. Bryophytes as ancient C3 land plants experienced these changes of CO2 concentrations in air. What is new is that the present increase is faster than most changes that have taken place in the geologically recent past. Results of research on bryophytes are compared with those on desiccation-sensitive and evolutionarily younger vascular C3 plants, the most widely investigated group in the field of global change.
Desiccation-tolerant (DT) bryophytes are an important component of the photosynthesizing biomass, including arctic and alpine tundras, temperate, mediterranean and sub/tropical grasslands, and non-arborescent communities of arid and semi-arid habitats (Kappen 1973; Smith 1982; Hawksworth & Ritchie 1993). For example, Sphagnum species are globally important owing to their considerable peat-forming ability and their potential impact on global climatic cycles (Gorham 1991; Franzén 1994).
Globally, peatlands are estimated to cover between 3.8 and 4.1 million square kilometers (Charman 2002), equivalent to about 3% of the land surface. Peat accumulation over thousands of years has resulted in a vast store of 450 × 1015 g C (Gorham 1991), which is at least 20% of the global carbon store in terrestrial ecosystems.
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- Bryophyte Ecology and Climate Change , pp. 55 - 70Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2011