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AOBPreview originally published online on February 14, 2009
Annals of Botany 2009 103(7):1015-1023; doi:10.1093/aob/mcp036
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Annals of Botany Company. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Use of sediment CO2 by submersed rooted plants

Anders Winkel and Jens Borum*

Freshwater Biological Laboratory, Biological Institute, University of Copenhagen, Helsingørsgade 51, DK-3400-Hillerød, Denmark.

* For correspondence. E-mail JBorum{at}bio.ku.dk

Received: 25 November 2008    Returned for revision: 15 December 2008    Accepted: 12 January 2009    Published electronically: 14 February 2009

Background and Aims: Submersed plants have different strategies to overcome inorganic carbon limitation. It is generally assumed that only small rosette species (isoetids) are able to utilize the high sediment CO2 availability. The present study examined to what extent five species of submersed freshwater plants with different morphology and growth characteristics (Lobelia dortmanna, Lilaeopsis macloviana, Ludwigia repens, Vallisneria americana and Hydrocotyle verticillata) are able to support photosynthesis supplied by uptake of CO2 from the sediment.

Methods: Gross photosynthesis was measured in two-compartment split chambers with low inorganic carbon availability in leaf compartments and variable CO2 availability (0 to >8 mmol L–1) in root compartments. Photosynthetic rates based on root-supplied CO2 were compared with maximum rates obtained at saturating leaf CO2 availability, and 14C experiments were conducted for two species to localize bottlenecks for utilization of sediment CO2.

Key Results: All species except Hydrocotyle were able to use sediment CO2, however, with variable efficiency, and with the isoetid, Lobelia, as clearly the most effective and the elodeid, Ludwigia, as the least efficient. At a water column CO2 concentration in equilibrium with air, Lobelia, Lilaeopsis and Vallisneria covered >75% of their CO2 requirements by sediment uptake, and sediment CO2 contributed substantially to photosynthesis at water CO2 concentrations up to 1000 µmol L–1. For all species except Ludwigia, the shoot to root ratio on an areal basis was the single factor best explaining variability in the importance of sediment CO2. For Ludwigia, diffusion barriers limited uptake or transport from roots to stems and transport from stems to leaves.

Conclusions: Submersed plants other than isoetids can utilize sediment CO2, and small and medium sized elodeids with high root to shoot area in particular may benefit substantially from uptake of sediment CO2 in low alkaline lakes.

Key words: Submersed rooted plants, CO2 uptake, sediment CO2, Lobelia dortmanna, Lilaeopsis macloviana, Ludwigia repens, Vallisneria americana, Hydrocotyle verticillata


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