Drought in a warmer, CO-rich climate restricts grassland water use and soil water mixing.

Soil water sustains terrestrial life, yet its fate is uncertain under a changing climate. We conducted a deuterium labeling experiment to determine whether elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO), warming, and drought impact soil water storage and transport in a temperate grassland. Elevated CO created a wetter rootzone compared with ambient conditions, whereas warming decreased soil moisture.

Root and rhizosphere contribution to the net soil COS exchange.

Background And Aims: Partitioning the measured net ecosystem carbon dioxide (CO) exchange into gross primary productivity (GPP) and ecosystem respiration remains a challenge, which scientists try to tackle by using the properties of the trace gas carbonyl sulfide (COS). Its similar pathway into and within the leaf makes it a potential photosynthesis proxy. The application of COS as an effective proxy depends, among other things, on a robust inventory of potential COS sinks and sources within ecosystems.

Individual and interactive effects of warming and nitrogen supply on CO fluxes and carbon allocation in subarctic grassland.

Climate warming has been suggested to impact high latitude grasslands severely, potentially causing considerable carbon (C) losses from soil. Warming can also stimulate nitrogen (N) turnover, but it is largely unclear whether and how altered N availability impacts belowground C dynamics. Even less is known about the individual and interactive effects of warming and N availability on the fate of recently photosynthesized C in soil.

Hydathodes in ferns: their phylogenetic distribution, structure and function.

Background And Aims: Ferns are the second largest group of vascular plants and are distributed nearly worldwide. Although ferns have been integrated into some comparative ecological studies focusing on hydathodes, there is a considerable gap in our understanding of the functional anatomy of these secretory tissues that are found on the vein endings of many fern leaves. In this study, we aimed to investigate the phylogenetic distribution, structure and function of fern hydathodes.