Elevated CO2 alters carbon fluxes in early successional Mediterranean ecosystems

Annual carbon budgets of ecosystems are central to our understanding of the biotic control of atmospheric composition, but they are not available under elevated CO2 for most vegetation types. Using gas exchange techniques, we assessed carbon fluxes of four early successional Mediterranean model communities, consisting of grasses, legumes and composites. The assemblages were grown on the same monoliths for three consecutive years in greenhouses tracking field conditions except for CO2 maintained at ambient (370 mmol mol ‐1 ) or elevated (700 mmol mol ‐1 ) concentration. During the third year of study, CO2 enrichment consistently shifted the annual carbon balance towards lower efflux, with displacements between 4.3 and 26.2 mol m ‐2 y ‐1 (one assemblage became a net CO2 sink, another just reached equilibrium, and the remaining two remained as a CO2 source). At least 50% of the shift under elevated CO2 originated from a decrease in belowground respiration. This indicates that, during this year, CO2 enrichment did not predominantly enhance C-cycling, but on the contrary inhibited root respiration or microbial C-utilization. Although elevated-CO2-grown systems acted as a net CO2 sink during a longer period of the year (4‐7 months) compared with ambient-CO2-grown systems (3‐3.5 months), gross canopy photosynthesis was modified only to a limited extent (between ‐5.9 and + 14.8%). Interaction between the carbon and the water cycle was apparently responsible for this weak stimulation. In particular, reduced evapotranspiration under elevated CO2 coincided with inhibited canopy photosynthesis in early spring, most likely resulting from water saturation of the soil. In addition, only the earliest-planted assemblages had an increased gross canopy photosynthesis during late autumn and early winter. This suggests that a longer summer drought, by delaying the establishment of such an annual type of vegetation, would reduce the positive impact of elevated CO2 on productivity. Water regime appears to strongly govern the influence of CO2 on the carbon fluxes in Mediterranean ecosystems with annual herbaceous vegetation.