Lesley A. Defalco Carolyn S. Wilcox Dean N. Jordan James S. Coleman Jeffrey R. Seemann Stanley D. Smith Robert S. Nowak 2001 <ul><li>A common response of plants to elevated atmospheric CO₂ concentration (CO₂) is decreased leaf conductance. Consequently, leaf temperature is predicted to increase under elevated CO₂.<br></li><li>Diurnal patterns of leaf conductance and temperature were measured for three desert perennials, the C₃ shrub <i>Larrea tridentata</i>, C₃ tussock grass <i>Achnatherum hymenoides</i> and C₄tussock grass <i>Pleuraphis rigida</i>, at the Nevada Desert FACE facility. Measurements were made on ambient and <i>c</i>. 550&nbsp;µmol mol⁻¹ CO₂ plots through both a wet and dry year.<br></li><li>Reductions in conductance were 35%, 20% and 13% for <i>Pleuraphis</i>, <i>Achnatherum</i> and <i>Larrea</i>, respectively. Decreased conductance occurred throughout the day only for <i>Pleuraphis</i>. Both C₃species had smaller CO₂ effects during dry periods than wet. Leaf temperature did not differ significantly between elevated and ambient CO₂ for any species. Comparisons of blower-control and nonring plots indicated that the FACE apparatus did not confound our results.<br></li><li>All three species exhibited decreased leaf conductance under elevated CO₂, although reductions were not uniform during the day or among years. Nonetheless, leaf energy balance was only minimally changed for these microphyllous desert perennials.<br></li></ul> application/pdf 10.1046/j.1469-8137.2001.00102.x en Wiley Leaf conductance decreased under free-air CO₂ enrichment (FACE) for three perennials in the Nevada desert article