Chin J Plant Ecol ›› 2010, Vol. 34 ›› Issue (9): 1058-1065.DOI: 10.3773/j.issn.1005-264x.2010.09.006

• Research Articles • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Gas exchange characteristics of 51 garden species in Wuhan City, China

LIAO Jian-Xiong1,*(), SHI Hong-Wen2, BAO Da-Chuan1, DUAN Qing-Ming2   

  1. 1Key Laboratory of Aquatic Botany and Watershed Ecology, Wuhan Botanical Garden, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan 430074, China
    2Wuhan Landscape Architecture Institute, Wuhan 430081, China
  • Received:2010-03-24 Accepted:2010-04-29 Online:2010-03-24 Published:2010-10-08
  • Contact: LIAO Jian-Xiong

Abstract:

Aims Garden plants account for the main part of urban green spaces, and their gas exchange is the key ecological process for regulating urban ecosystem function. Our objectives were to determine whether there are significant differences in gas exchange characteristics among different green spaces and plant guilds in Wuhan City, China and to explore how different environmental conditions and species composition affect these gas exchange characteristics.

Methods Photosynthetic capacity (Amax), transpiration rate (Tr) and photosynthetic water use efficiency (PWUE) were measured for 51 garden species in five green spaces in summer, using a portable photosynthesis system (CIRAS-2, PP systems, Amesbury, USA).

Important findings There were significant differences in Amax, Tr and PWUE among green spaces, shrubs and trees and deciduous and evergreen plants. However, the variation among green spaces was mainly related to differences among species and to a minor extent to differences in microclimate. Based on these gas exchange parameters, the species studied can be divided into three groups: low photosynthesis and low water use efficiency species (38 species), high photosynthesis and high transpiration species (10 species) and low water consumption but high water use species (Ormosia henryi, Cinnamomum septentrionale and Michelia bedinieri).

Key words: green places, photosynthetic capacity, photosynthetic water use efficiency, transpiration, urban garden plants