In-situ estimation of physiologically active time in Antarctic terrestrial vegetation at manipulated air temperature
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| Year of publication | 2008 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
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| Description | Lichens and mosses cope well with extremes of Antarctic climate. We investigated their physiological responses to natural and artificially warmend environment using an open top chamber approach (OTC). At the northern cost of James Ross Island (63o 50 S, 57o 50 W), several hexagonal OTCs were installed to increase close-to-surface air temperature. Plastic walls of OTC increased air and soil temperature inside mimicing atmospheric warming ongoing recently along the Antarctic peninsula. The OTCs were located (1) close to the seashore and at the (2) top of table mountains at the altitude of about 350 m a.s.l. (meseta). While the seashore OTCs were dominated by moss species with limited number of lichens on them, the OTCs at the meseta were dominated exclusively by lichen species Usnea antarctica and Umbilicaria decussata. In a long-term monitoring, air temperature and humidity, soil temperatures were measured inside the OTCs and at control outside plots in a 30 min interval (VV/VX datalogger, EMS, CZ). The data were related to a full set of temperature, RH and radiation data collected by a neighbouring climatic station (EMS, CZ). To estimate physiologically active time of vegetation inside and outside the OTCs, modified PAM-210 fluorometers (Heinz Walz, Germany) were installed to measure chlorophyll fluorescence and effective quantum yield of photosynthetic processes in photosystem II (PS II) as dependent on hydration/dehydration and microclimatic parameters inside and outside the OTCs. The research reported in the abstract was supported by the ME 945 project provided by the Czech Ministry of Education. |
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