Seasonal variation of temperature response of respiration in invasive Berberis thunbergii (Japanese barberry) and two co-occurring native understory shrubs in a northeastern US deciduous forest

Abstract

In the understory of a closed forest, plant growth is limited by light availability, and early leafing is proposed to be an important mechanism of plant invasion by providing a spring C "subsidy" when high light is available. However, studies on respiration, another important process determining plant net C gain, are rare in understory invasive plants. In this study, leaf properties and the temperature response of leaf respiration were compared between invasive Berberis thunbergii, an early leafing understory shrub, and two native shrubs, Kalmia latifolia, a broadleaf evergreen and Vaccinium corymbosum, a late-leafing deciduous species, in an oak-dominated deciduous forest. The seasonal trend of the basal respiration rates (R(0)) and the temperature response coefficient (E(0)), were different among the three shrubs and species-specific negative correlations were observed between R(0) and E(0). All three shrubs showed significant correlation between respiration rate on an area basis (20 degrees C) and leaf N on an area basis. The relationship was attributed to the variation of both leaf N on a mass basis and leaf mass per area (LMA) in B. thunbergii, but to LMA only in K. latifolia and V. corymbosum. After modeling leaf respiration throughout 2004, B. thunbergii displayed much higher annual leaf respiration (mass based) than the two native shrubs, indicating a higher cost per unit of biomass investment. Thus, respiratory properties alone were not likely to lead to C balance advantage of B. thunbergii. Future studies on whole plant C budgets and leaf construction cost are needed to address the C balance advantage in early leafing understory shrubs like B. thunbergii.

Thermal acclimation of leaf respiration but not photosynthesis in Populus deltoides×nigra

“…Although our results deviate from those of Loveys et al . (2003), who proposed that the R d / A max ratio is insensitive to environmental conditions, our findings are, however, consistent with those of Xu et al . (2006), showing significant seasonal variation in the ratio for three shrub species.…”

Coupling of respiration, nitrogen, and sugars underlies convergent temperature acclimation in Pinus banksiana across wide‐ranging sites and populations

“…A 90% normal contour ellipsoid is shown. nal variation in base respiration rates may be predicted from these and related leaf traits (Xu & Griffin, 2006;Xu et al, 2007). These findings support the idea that a joint substrate-and enzyme-based model of respiratory acclimation may be useful in modeling temporal changes in respiration and provide a linkage to photosynthesis and carbon balance (Dewar et al, 1999;Turnbull et al, 2002;Whitehead et al, 2004).…”

Bringing the Kok effect to light: A review on the integration of daytime respiration and net ecosystem exchange

“…NEE models are often simplified in terms of the assumptions about the temperature dependence of autotrophic respiration. This can lead to inaccuracies though, as respiratory Q 10 values are nonlinear, and using fixed values could lead to over-or under-estimation of ER over longer time scales (Tjoelker et al 2001, Davidson et al 2006, Xu et al 2007, and temperatures experienced during the day are warmer than experienced at nighttime and represent a portion of the temperature response curve that does not necessarily correspond to night ER fluxes (Tjoelker et al 2001). Another area of oversight in NEE models, and the focus of this review, is the failure to incorporate the light inhibition of foliar respiration.…”