Latitudinal Effect on Respiration in some Northern Plants.

Abstract

The respiratory rates of leaves or shoots of 3 species of flowering plants, a Lycopodium, 2 Equisetum, and 2 lichens, growing in northern Labrador, have been compared with measurements from the same species of plants growing in the temperate zone. When taken at the same temperatures, the records for 7 out of 9 species showed no statistically significant difference between northern and southern specimens, and therefore no evidence of climatic compensation in respiratory rate. In the remaining 2 species (1 Lycopodium and 1 Equisetum) the rates were significantly higher for the northern plants than for their southern counterparts.