ABSTRACT
Elevated CO2 concentrations enhance C xation and produce direct effects on photosynthetic processes (Owensby et al. 1999). Generally, the effects of elevated CO2 include increase in biomass (Erice et al. 2006; Housman et al. 2006), change in growth rates (Soulé and Knapp 2006) and plant structure
CONTENTS
20.1 Introduction ................................................................................................ 367 20.2 Carbon Dioxide Effects on Leaf Spectral Reectance of Dry
Forest Species ............................................................................................. 369 20.2.1 Spectral Responses on Growth Habitat: Trees
versus Lianas ............................................................................. 369 20.2.2 Spectral Responses per Tree and Liana Species ........................ 371 20.2.3 Considerations of Spectral Responses of
Tropical Dry Forests ...................................................................... 372 20.3 Final Remarks ............................................................................................. 373
(Pritchard et al. 1999), alteration in the patterns of allocation of nutrients (Nagel et al. 2005), change in the efciency of water use (Eamus 1991; Li et al. 2003), and energy assimilation (Nagel et al. 2005). However, the magnitude of these effects varies depending on the plant species or the plant functional type (Körner 2004). Temperate lianas have responded more rapidly than trees (increase in leaf area and plant biomass) to enriched CO2 concentrations (see the studies by Mohan et al. [2006] and Zotz et al. [2006]), suggesting that the increase in lianas observed in some ecosystems may be associated with elevated levels of CO2 (Phillips et al. 2002). While investigating tropical species in China, Zhu and Caos (2010) postulated that lianas have some leaf characteristics (such as high ratio of leaf area to total plant mass) that allow greater xation of C and a faster response to CO2 enrichment. The authors observed a higher specic leaf area and resulting amplied photosynthetic rates in lianas in comparison with trees in response to atmospheric CO2 enrichment.
