The role of CO 2 uptake by roots and CAM in acquisition of inorganic C by plants of the isoetid life‐form: a review, with new data on Eriocaulon decangulare L.

• Published in: New Phytologist
• Main Authors: RAVEN, JOHN A., HANDLEY, LINDA L., MACFARLANE, JEFFREY J., MCINROY, SHONA, MCKENZIE, LEWIS, RICHARDS, JENNIFER H., SAMUELSSON, GORAN
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 1988
• Subjects: Antarc*; Antarctica
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1988.tb03690.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1469-8137.1988.tb03690.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1988.tb03690.x; https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1469-8137.1988.tb03690.x

SUMMARY The isoetid life‐form was originally defined on morphological grounds; subsequent physiological investigations showed that all of the isoetids examined took up a large fraction of the inorganic C fixed in their leaves from the root medium under natural conditions, and that some of them carried out much of their assimilation of inorganic C via a CAM‐like mechanism. Root‐dominated uptake of inorganic C appeared to be unique to, and ubiquitous in, the isoetids. I However, a large capacity for CAM‐like metabolism in submerged vascular plants is not universal in isoetids, nor is it restricted to this life‐form, being also found in Crassulaa aquatica. The work described here shows that submerged specimens of the North American Eriocaulon decangulare have a high fraction of their dry weight in the root system, a trait characteristic of isoetids but uncommon in other submerged vascular plants. E. decangulare has vesicular‐arbuscular mycorrhizas, as do other flowering plant isoetids hut not, generally, submerged Isoetes spp. Under conditions of natural supply of inorganic C, E. decangulare , like other isoetids, takes up most of its inorganic C through its roots. Uptake of inorganic C by both roots and shoots involves CO 2 rather than HCO 3 : photosynthesis at high external pH values does not exceed the rate of uncatalysed HCO 3 ‐ to CO 2 conversion in the medium and there is no detectable extracellular carbonic anhydrase activity. Measurements of titratable acidity and of malate content of leaves sampled at dawn and at dusk showed that E. decangulare , growing and tested under either emersed or submersed conditions, did not exhibit CAM‐like behaviour. CAM was also absent from three non‐isoetid aquatic macrophytes (Amphibolic antarctica, Eeklonia radiata and Vallisneria spiralis) which were examined. E. decangulare thus resembles all other isoetids tested in acquiring much of its inorganic C via the root system. E. decangulare also resembles most of the isoetids which are not members of the Isoetaceae (e.g.) E. ...