Contrasting responses of leaf stomatal characteristics to climate change: a considerable challenge to predict carbon and water cycles.
Stomata control the cycling of water and carbon between plants and the atmosphere; however, no consistent conclusions have been drawn regarding the response of stomatal frequency to climate change. Here, we conducted a meta-analysis of 1854 globally obtained data series to determine the response of stomatal frequency to climate change, which including four plant life forms (over 900 species), at altitudes ranging from 0 to 4500 m and over a time span of more than one hundred thousand years. Stomatal frequency decreased with increasing CO2concentration and increased with elevated temperature and drought stress; it was also dependent on the species and experimental conditions. The response of stomatal frequency to climate change showed a trade-off between stomatal control strategies and environmental factors, such as the CO2concentration, temperature, and soil water availability. Moreover, threshold effects of elevated CO2and temperature on stomatal frequency were detected, indicating that the response of stomatal density to increasing CO2concentration will decrease over the next few years. The results also suggested that the stomatal index may be more reliable than stomatal density for determination of the historic CO2concentration. Our findings indicate that the contrasting responses of stomata to climate change bring a considerable challenge in predicting future water and carbon cycles.
State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China.
Weiming
0000-0001-5509-0806
W
Yan
State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China.|Center for Ecological and Environmental Sciences, Key Laboratory for Space Bioscience and Biotechnology, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi'an, 710072, China.
Yangquanwei
0000-0003-4713-958X
Y
Zhong
State Key Laboratory of Soil Erosion and Dryland Farming on the Loess Plateau, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, Shaanxi, 712100, China.
Zhouping
Z
Shangguan
D002244:Carbon / Q000378:metabolism*; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D057231:Climate Change; D018515:Plant Leaves; D054046:Plant Stomata / Q000502:physiology*; D014867:Water; D058438:Water Cycle
D014867:Water; D002245:Carbon Dioxide; D002244:Carbon
carbon and water cycles; climate change; drought stress; elevated CO2 concentration; elevated temperature; life forms; stomatal frequency