The impact of elevated temperatures and CO2 on seed germination and early plant morphology: The case of native Fabaceae plants in the UAE

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the impact of elevated temperature and CO2 on three arid UAE plants (Prosopis cineraria, Senna italica, and Tephrosia nubica) and ultimately to identify species that thrive well under these conditions. The plants were grown and monitored under two different environments (Greenhouse conditions, elevated CO2 (eCO2) with 800–1000 ppm). Seed germination percentage (G) and plant morphological characteristics like number of leaves and root/shoot ratio were observed to assess the different plant growth in each treatment. All species displayed a decrease in germination percentage with increasing temperatures, and eCO2 did not improved the germination percentage with these elevated temperatures compared to greenhouse treatment. P. cineraria displayed a significant increase in all morphological characteristics with eCO2 compared to greenhouse treatment (number of leaves: 670, shoot length: 40 cm, root length: 42 cm, shoot weight: 2 g, dry shoot weight: 0.61 g, root weight: 0.53 g, dry root weight: 0.24 g). Overall, S. italica and T. nubica displayed a significant decrease with eCO2.