Abstract Detail

The Odum Legacy: Plant Systems Across Scales

Teskey, Robert [1], McGuire, Mary Anne [2], Aubrey, Doug [3], Bloemen, Jasper [4], Steppe, Kathy [5].

Plants as integrated systems: Within-plant carbon transport and recycling.

The processes by which carbohydrates are obtained through leaf photosynthesis and subsequently distributed through the phloem to other parts of the plant are well understood. However, the current understanding of how carbon is acquired, transported, and used is now expanding to include internal recycling of respired CO₂. Much of the CO₂ released by respiring cells dissolves in xylem sap, moves upward in the transpiration stream, and is refixed by photosynthesis in green woody tissues and leaves. Root respiration supplies a substantial quantity of this internally-transported and recycled CO₂. Until recently, refixation of endogenous CO₂ has been “invisible”, but recent advances have made it possible to measure this component of a plant’s carbon cycle. We, and others, have shown that internal recycling of carbon can satisfy up to 20% of a plant’s carbohydrate needs. The recycling process also has important ramifications for how plants cope with drought and other stress conditions where stomata close to prevent gas exchange with the atmosphere. We will discuss the methods by which internal CO₂ transport and recycling are measured and the results of our recent experiments on internal carbon transport and recycling in temperate and arid region plants.

1 - University Of Georgia, Forestry And Natural Resources, 180 E. Green Street, Athens, GA, 30602, USA
2 - University of Georgia, Forestry and Natural Resources, 160 E. Green St., Athens, Georgia, 30602, USA
3 - University of Georgia, Savannah River Ecology Lab , PO Box E, Aiken, SC, 29802, USA
4 - University of Innsbruck, Institute of Ecology, Research Group Ecophysiology and Ecosystem Processes, Sternwartestrabe 15 (room 004), Innsbruck, A-6020, Austria
5 - Ghent University, Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Faculty of Bioscience Engineering, Coupure links 653, Ghent, B-9000, Belgium

Keywords:
respiration
photosynthesis
internal carbon recycling.

Presentation Type: Symposium Presentation
Session: SY02, The Odum Legacy: Plant Systems Across Scales
Location: Chatham Ballroom - C/Savannah International Trade and Convention Center
Date: Monday, August 1st, 2016
Time: 10:00 AM
Number: SY02004
Abstract ID:116
Candidate for Awards:None