Abstract
Climate change can profoundly alter volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from vegetation and thus influence climate evolution. Yet, the short- and long-term effects of elevated CO2 concentrations on emissions in interaction with temperature are not well enough understood, especially for VOCs other than isoprene. To gain additional insight, we conducted a study on holm oak, which is known for its strong foliar monoterpene emissions that are directly linked to their synthesis. We measured CO2-response curves of emissions, CO2–H2O gas exchanges and chlorophyll fluorescence at two assay temperatures (30 and 35 ∘C) on saplings of four populations grown under normal and double CO2 concentrations combined with two temperature growth regimes differing by 5 ∘C (day/night: 25/15 and 30/20 ∘C). A stepwise reduction in CO2 resulted in a decrease in emissions, occasionally preceded by an increase, with the overall decrease in emissions being greater at 35 ∘C than at 30 ∘C assay temperature. During ramping to high CO2, emissions remained mostly unchanged at 35 ∘C, whereas at 30 ∘C they often dropped, especially at the highest CO2 levels (≥ 1200 ppm). In addition to the actual leaf temperature, the high CO2 responsiveness of emissions was modulated by the plant's growth temperature with warm-grown plants being more sensitive than cool-grown plants. In contrast, growth CO2 had no significant effect on the CO2 sensitivity of emissions, although it promoted plant growth and the leaf emission factor. Correlation analyses suggest that the emission response to CO2 depended primarily on the availability of energetic cofactors produced by photosynthetic electron transport. This availability was likely limited by different processes that occurred during CO2 ramping including photooxidative stress and induction of protective and repair mechanisms as well as competition with CO2 fixation and photorespiration. In addition, feedback inhibition of photosynthesis may have played a role, especially in leaves whose emissions were inhibited only at very high CO2 levels. Overall, our results confirm an isoprene-analogous behavior of monoterpene emissions from holm oak. Emissions exhibit a non-linear response curve to CO2 similar to that currently used for isoprene emission in the MEGAN model, with no difference between major individual monoterpene species and plant chemotype. Simulations estimating the annual VOC releases from holm oak leaves at double atmospheric CO2 indicate that the observed high-CO2 inhibition is unlikely to offset the increase in emissions due to the predicted warming.