New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research abstracts

---

Carbon dioxide fixation in aerial roots of the New Zealand mangrove Avicennia marina var. resinifera (Note)

FRANK I. DROMGOOLE

Department of Botany University of Auckland Private Hag Auckland, New Zealand

Abstract The CO₂ exchange characteristics and chlorophyll content of the pneumatophores of Avicennia marina (Forsk.) Vierh. var. resinifera (Forst.) Bakh. were examined. The results indicate that, in addition to their primary role in ventilation of the buried roots, the aerial roots have the ability to fix exogenous CO₂ via photosynthesis. Consequently, during the day these organs are almost autotrophic in terms of carbon balance. When corrected for the respiration of non-chlorophyllous tissue, they show photosynthetic rates comparable to those of many other woody plants.

Keywords mangrove; Avicennia; pneumatophores; CO₂ fixation; chlorophyll content

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research, 1988, Vol. 22: 617-619 Crown copyright 1988Received 18 November 1987, accepted 22 March 1988

PDF file of entire paper: medium quality (243K); (scanned from paper original: notes about this process)

---

This year's abstracts | Journal home page | All abstracts | Publishing home page