2010/03/31 by W. A. Green · 3 citations
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology · Environmental Science · #Plant responses to water stress #Photosynthetic Processes and Mechanisms #Plant Water Relations and Carbon Dynamics
paper · doi:10.1098/rspb.2010.0224
openalex publication_date 2010/03/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Most species of the modern family Isoëtaceae (Quillworts) some other modern hydrophytes, use a metabolic pathway for carbon fixation that involves uptake of sedimentary carbon and enrichment of CO(2) in internal gas spaces as a carbon-concentrating mechanism. This metabolism, which is related to 'aquatic CAM', is characterized by morphological, physiological and biochemical adaptations for decreasing photorespirative loss, aerating roots and maintaining high growth rates in anoxic, oligotrophic, stressed environments. Some of the closest relatives of the Isoëtaceae were the 'arborescent lycopsids', which were among the dominant taxa in the coal swamps found in lowland ecosystems during the Carboniferous and Permian periods (approx. 300 Ma). Morphological, ecological and geochemical evidence supports the hypothesis that the arborescent lycopsids had an unusual metabolism similar to that of modern Isoëtaceae and processed a biogeochemically significant proportion of organically fixed carbon over a period of about 100 million years in the late Palaeozoic. The temporal coincidence between the dominance of plants with this metabolism and an anomalous global atmosphere (high O(2); low CO(2)) supports the idea that biosphere feedbacks are important in regulating global climatic homeostasis. The potential influence of this metabolism on the global carbon cycle and its specific adaptive function suggest that it should perhaps be considered a fourth major photosynthetic pathway.