The influence of rising tropospheric carbon dioxide and ozone on plant productivity

Abstract

Human activities result in a wide array of pollutants being released to the atmosphere. A number of these pollutants have direct effects on plants, including carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), which is the substrate for photosynthesis, and ozone (O 3 ), a damaging oxidant. How plants respond to changes in these atmospheric air pollutants, both directly and indirectly, feeds back on atmospheric composition and climate, global net primary productivity and ecosystem service provisioning. Here we discuss the past, current and future trends in emissions of CO 2 and O 3 and synthesise the current atmospheric CO 2 and O 3 budgets, describing the important role of vegetation in determining the atmospheric burden of those pollutants. While increased atmospheric CO 2 concentration over the past 150 years has been accompanied by greater CO 2 assimilation and storage in terrestrial ecosystems, there is evidence that rising temperatures and increased drought stress may limit the ability of future terrestrial ecosystems to buffer against atmospheric emissions. Long-term Free Air CO 2 or O 3 Enrichment (FACE) experiments provide critical experimentation about the effects of future CO 2 and O 3 on ecosystems, and highlight the important interactive effects of temperature, nutrients and water supply in determining ecosystem responses to air pollution. Long-term experimentation in both natural and cropping systems is needed to provide critical empirical data for modelling the effects of air pollutants on plant productivity in the decades to come.

Photosynthetic Conversion of Carbon Dioxide to Oleochemicals by Cyanobacteria: Recent Advances and Future Perspectives

“…Since the Industrial Revolution, the level of global carbon dioxide together with other greenhouse gases (GHGs) significantly increased due to human activities (Ainsworth et al, 2020). Cumulative anthropogenic emissions of CO 2 have been considered as the main driver of global warming (Ainsworth et al, 2020).…”

“…Since the Industrial Revolution, the level of global carbon dioxide together with other greenhouse gases (GHGs) significantly increased due to human activities (Ainsworth et al, 2020). Cumulative anthropogenic emissions of CO 2 have been considered as the main driver of global warming (Ainsworth et al, 2020). Transportation is a major contributor to the global CO 2 emission, representing 65% of the world oil consumption and 24% of global CO 2 emissions due to the direct combustion of fuels (Li et al, 2019;Solaymani, 2019).…”

Maternal Exposure to Ozone Modulates the Endophyte-Conferred Resistance to Aphids in Lolium multiflorum Plants

“…While most studies addressing plant-herbivore interaction under global change scenarios have focused on CO 2 and temperatures, a few works have considered other abiotic stressors such as ozone [8,9]. Ground-level ozone is a pollutant rising globally that, mainly associated to human activities, causes oxidative damage in animals, plants, and microorganisms [10]. While research has commonly focused on the impact of one stress factor on the interaction of plants with other organisms during the host ontogeny, recent attention is moving to understand the legacy effects of global change factors on the progeny ecological performance [11][12][13].…”

“…Ozone is an air pollutant and a potent oxidant for living organisms [10]. The concentration of ground-level ozone is rising linked to human activities, causing damage to natural and managed ecosystems [8,10,49,50]. In plants, ozone enters through stomata and reacts with cell structures, triggering the accumulation of Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) [51].…”

Plant functioning in a changing global atmosphere

“…This Special Issue of Plant Biology includes a series of review articles and research papers addressing plant functioning in a changing climate in natural and managed ecosystems. Past, current and future trends in emissions of CO 2 and O 3 and the capacity of ecosystems to filter those are investigated in Ainsworth et al (), while O 3 effects on plants in natural ecosystems are reviewed in Grulke & Heath (), including injury symptoms, effects on plant carbon, water and nutrient balance and growth. Effects of increasing atmospheric CO 2 are at the centre of two additional reviews.…”