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Updated: Mar 6, 2026

A CO2 Concentration Gradient Facility for Testing CO2 Enrichment and Soil Effects on Grassland Ecosystem Function
Published on: November 21, 2015
Intercellular CO2 concentration and water-use efficiency of temperate plants with different life-forms and from
1The Institute of Low Temperature Science, Hokkaido University, 060, Sapporo, Japan.
Abstract:
Photosynthesis and transpiration were measured simultaneously, under near-optimum and constant environmental conditions, in intact leaves of plants native to the temperate forest region. A linear relationship between photosynthetic rate and stomatal conductance was found in every species tested irrespective of leaf age or season, indicating that the calculated intercellular CO2 concentration and water-use efficiency were fairly constant within a species. The values of intercellular CO2 concentration and water-use efficiency ranged from 221 to 271 μl l-1 [Formula: see text] and 4.46 to 8.20 μmol CO2 mmolH2O-1 (6.24±0.90 μmol CO2 mmolH2O-1), respectively. The variations in intercellular CO2 concentration and water-use efficiency were not directly related to photosynthetic capacities, life-forms, or microhabitat preferences. The intercellular CO2 concentrations found in this study were close to values reported from cultivated plants and plants native to more arid regions, suggesting a common mechanism to maintain the stomatal conductance proportional to photosynthetic capacity over a wide variety of C3 plants.
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