Fraction of terrestrial plant species that are C3 plants

Range >90 %
Organism Biosphere
Reference Arrivault S et al., Metabolite profiles reveal interspecific variation in operation of the Calvin-Benson cycle in both C4 and C3 plants. J Exp Bot. 2019 Mar 27 70(6):1843-1858. doi: 10.1093/jxb/erz051 abstract and p.1844 right column 3rd paragraphPubMed ID30773587
Primary Source Silvera K, Neubig KM, Whitten WM, Williams NH, Winter K, Cushma JC. 2010. Evolution along the crassulacean acid metabolism continuum. Functional Plant Biology 37, 995–1010 link AND Sage RF. 2017. A portrait of the C4 photosynthetic family on the 50th anni-versary of its discovery: species number, evolutionary lineages, and Hall of Fame. Journal of Experimental Botany 68, 4039–4056 doi: 10.1093/jxb/erx005 PubMed ID28110278
Comments Abstract: "Low atmospheric CO2 in recent geological time led to the evolution of carbon-concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) such as C4 photosynthesis in >65 terrestrial plant lineages. [Investigators] know little about the impact of low CO2 on the Calvin-Benson cycle (CBC) in C3 species that did not evolve CCMs, representing >90% of terrestrial plant species." P.1844 right column 3rd paragraph: "Low CO2 will have exerted massive selective pressure on the CBC in species that did not evolve a CCM, representing ~90% of existing terrestrial plant species (primary sources)."
Entered by Uri M
ID 116883