Plant growth and climate change

. Recent and future climate change and their implications for plant growth / David Viner, James I.L. Morison and Craig Wallace -- Introduction -- The climate system -- Mechanisms of anthropogenic climate change -- Recent climate changes -- Future changes in anthropogenic forcing of climate -- Future global climate scenarios -- Future regional climate scenarios -- Concluding comments -- References -- 2. Plant responses to rising atmospheric carbon dioxide / Lewis H. Ziska and James A. Bunce -- Introduction -- Overview of plant biology -- A word about methodology -- Gene expression and carbon dioxide -- Cellular processes : photosynthetic carbon reduction (PCR) and carbon dioxide -- C₃ photosynthesis -- C₄ photosynthesis -- Crassulacean acid metabolism photosynthesis -- Photosynthetic acclimation to rising CO₂ -- Cellular processes : photosynthetic carbon oxidation (PCO) and carbon dioxide -- Single leaf response to CO₂ -- Leaf carbon dynamics -- Inhibition of dark respiration -- Leaf chemistry -- Stomatal response and CO₂ -- Whole plant responses to rising CO₂ -- Plant development -- Carbon dynamics -- Stomatal regulation and water use -- Plant-to-plant interactions -- Plant competition : managed systems -- Plant competition : unmanaged systems -- How does CO₂ alter plant-to-plant interactions? -- Plant communities and ecosystem responses to CO₂ -- Managed plant systems -- Water use in managed systems -- Water use in unmanaged plant systems -- Other trophic levels -- Global and evolutionary scales -- Rising CO₂ as a selection factor -- Global impacts -- Uncertainties and limitations -- References. 3. Significance of temperature in plant life / Christian Körner -- Two paradoxes -- paradox 1 -- Paradox 2 -- Baseline responses of plant metabolism to temperature -- Photosynthesis -- Dark respiration -- Thermal acclimation of metabolism -- Growth response to temperature -- Temperature extremes and temperature thresholds -- The temperatures experienced by plants -- Temperature and plant development -- The challenge of testing plant responses to temperature -- References -- 4. Temperature and plant development : phenology and seasonality / Annette Menzel and Tim Sparks -- The origins of phenology -- Recent changes in phenology -- Attribution of temporal changes -- Detection of phenological change -- Attribution of year-to-year changes in phenology to temperature and other factors -- Confounding factors -- Evidence from continuous phenological measures -- Possible consequences -- References -- 5. Responses of plant growth and functioning to changes in water supply in a changing climate / William J. Davies -- Introduction : a changing climate and its effects on plant growth and functioning -- Growth of plants in drying soil -- Hydraulic regulation of growth -- Water relations of plants in drying soil -- Water movement into and through the plant -- Control of gas exchange by stomata under drought -- Water relation targets for plant improvement in water scarce environments -- Control of stoma, water use and growth of plants in drying soil : hydraulic and chemical signalling -- Interactions between different environmental factors. Measuring the water availability in the soil : long-distance chemical signalling -- The integrated response to the environment -- Conclusions : a strategy for plant improvement and management to exploit the plant's drought response capacity -- References -- 6. Water availability and productivity / João S. Pereira, Maria-Manuela Chaves, Maria-Conceição Caldeira and Alexandre V. Correia -- Introduction -- Water deficits and primary productivity -- Net primary productivity -- Water-use efficiency -- Variability in water resources and plant productivity -- Temporal variability in water resources -- Variability in space -- In situ water redistribution -- hydraulic redistribution -- Plant communities facing drought -- Species interactions with limiting water resources -- Vegetation change and drought : is there an arid zone 'treeline'? -- Droughts and wildfires -- Agricultural and forestry perspectives -- Agriculture -- Forestry -- References. 7. Effects of temperature and precipitation changes on plant communities / M.D. Morecroft and J.S. Paterson -- Introduction -- Methodology -- Mechanisms of change in plant communities -- Direct effects of climate -- Interspecific differences in growth responses to climate -- Competition and facilitation -- Changing water availability and interactions between climate variables -- Interactions between climate and nutrient cycling -- Role of extreme events -- Dispersal constraints -- Interactions with animals -- Is community change already happening? -- Acknowledgements -- References -- 8. Issues in modelling plant ecosystem responses to elevated CO₂ : interactions with soil nitrogen / Ying-Ping Wang, Ross McMurtrie, Belinda Medlyn and David Pepper -- Introduction -- Modelling challenges -- Chapter aims -- Representing nitrogen cycling in ecosystem models -- Overview of ecosystem models -- Modelling nitrogen cycling -- Major uncertainties -- How uncertain assumptions affect model predictions -- Scenario 1 (base case) : increased litter quantity and decreased litter quality -- Scenario 2 : scenario 1 + higher litter N/C ratio -- Scenario 3 : scenario 1 + increased root allocation -- Scenario 4 : scenario 1 + increased N input -- Scenario 5 : scenario 1 + decreased N/C ratio of new active SOM -- Scenario 6 : scenario 5 + decreased N/C ratio of new slow SOM -- Scenario 7 : scenario 2 + 3 + 4 + 6 + decreased slope of relation between maximum leaf potential photosynthetic electron transport rate and leaf N/C ratio -- Model-data fusion techniques -- Discussion -- Acknowledgements -- References. 9. Predicting the effect of climate change on global plant productivity and the carbon cycle / John Grace and Rui Zhang -- Introduction -- Definitions and conceptual framework -- Empirical basis of our knowledge of carbon fluxes -- NPP -- NEP and NEE -- GPP and NPP by remote sensing -- Use of models to predict changes in plant growth and carbon fluxes at the large scale -- Dependencies of fluxes on CO₂ light and nitrogen supply -- Photosynthesis -- Autotrophic respiration -- Heterotrophic respiration -- Ecosystem models -- Conclusions --