Ga. Duff et al., GROWTH, BIOMASS ALLOCATION AND FOLIAR NUTRIENT CONTENTS OF 2 EUCALYPTUS SPECIES OF THE WET DRY TROPICS OF AUSTRALIA GROWN UNDER CO2 ENRICHMENT, Functional ecology, 8(4), 1994, pp. 502-508
1. Seeds of Eucalyptus tetrodonta and E. miniata were sown in duplicat
ed air-conditioned tents which were ventilated with either ambient or
CO2-enriched (700 mumol mol-1) air. Growth, foliar nutrient content, s
oluble protein and biomass allocation were investigated over the subse
quent 32-week experimental period. 2. It was found that CO2 enrichment
significantly increased the total biomass and tree height of E. tetro
donta, but had no effect on total biomass or tree height of E. miniata
. 3. Allocation of biomass to main-stem wood and main-stem leaf mass i
ncreased and allocation to branch wood and branch leaves declined, und
er CO2 enrichment for E. tetrodonta. No change in allocation patterns
for E miniata was observed in response to CO2 enrichment. 4. Foliar ni
trogen, manganese and phosphorus contents were decreased under CO2 enr
ichment in E tetrodonta, but there was no effect of CO2 concentration
in E. miniata. Soluble protein contents were not affected by CO2 enric
hment in either species. These results are discussed in relation to th
e competitive relationship between these two species in northern Austr
alia.