A meta-analysis of experimental warming effects on woody plant growth and photosynthesis in forests

Abstract

Increasing field experiments have been conducted in forests to better understand the response of plant growth and photosynthesis to climatic warming. However, it is still unknown whether there is a general pattern in relation to how and to what extent warming impacts woody plants in forests. In this study, a meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the warming effects. When temperatures increased between 0.3 and 10 °C, specific leaf area (SLA) was significantly increased by 5.9%, plant height by 7.8%, biomass by 21.9%, foliar calcium (Ca) and manganese (Mn) concentrations by 20.7% and 39.6% and net photosynthetic rate (Pn) by 9.9%. Enhanced growth and Pn may have a relationship with changing SLA, efficiency of PSII (photosystem II), photosynthetic pigment concentrations and foliar nutrients. The results will be useful to understand the underlying mechanisms of forests responding to global warming.

Keywords

Forest / Global warming / Meta-analysis / Photosynthesis / Plant growth

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