Wah Soon Chow, a teacher, a friend and a colleague.

To finish this special issue, some friends, colleagues and students of Prof. Chow (Emeritus Professor, the Research School of Biology, the Australian National University) have written small tributes to acknowledge not only his eminent career but to describe his wonderful personality.

Growth and nutritive value of cassava (Manihot esculenta Cranz.) are reduced when grown in elevated CO.

Global food security in a changing climate depends on both the nutritive value of staple crops as well as their yields. Here, we examined the direct effect of atmospheric CO(2) on cassava (Manihot esculenta Cranz., manioc), a staple for 750 million people worldwide. Cassava is poor in nutrients and contains high levels of cyanogenic glycosides that break down to release toxic hydrogen cyanide when damaged. We grew cassava at three concentrations of CO(2) (C(a): 360, 550 and 710 ppm) supplied together with nutrient solution containing either 1 mM or 12 mM nitrogen. We found that total plant biomass and tuber yield (number and mass) decreased linearly with increasing C(a). In the worst-case scenario, tuber mass was reduced by an order of magnitude in plants grown at 710 ppm compared with 360 ppm CO(2). Photosynthetic parameters were consistent with the whole plant biomass data. It is proposed that since cassava stomata are highly sensitive to other environmental variables, the decrease in assimilation observed here might, in part, be a direct effect of CO(2) on stomata. Total N (used here as a proxy for protein content) and cyanogenic glycoside concentrations of the tubers were not significantly different in the plants grown at elevated CO(2). By contrast, the concentration of cyanogenic glycosides in the edible leaves nearly doubled in the highest C(a). If leaves continue to be used as a protein supplement, they will need to be more thoroughly processed in the future. With increasing population density, declining soil fertility, expansion into marginal farmland, together with the predicted increase in extreme climatic events, reliance on robust crops such as cassava will increase. The responses to CO(2) shown here point to the possibility that there could be severe food shortages in the coming decades unless CO(2) emissions are dramatically reduced, or alternative cultivars or crops are developed.

Phosphorus availability and elevated CO2 affect biological nitrogen fixation and nutrient fluxes in a clover-dominated sward.

The response of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) to elevated CO(2) was examined in white clover (Trifolium repens)-dominated swards under both high and low phosphorus availability. Mixed swards of clover and buffalo grass (Stenotaphrum secundatum) were grown for 15 months in 0.2 m2 sand-filled mesocosms under two CO2 treatments (ambient and twice ambient) and three nutrient treatments [no N, and either low or high P (5 or 134 kg P ha(-1)); the third nutrient treatment was supplied with high P and N (240 kg N ha(-1))]. Under ambient CO2, high P increased BNF from 410 to 900 kg ha(-1). Elevated CO2 further increased BNF to 1180 kg ha(-1) with high P, but there was no effect of CO2 on BNF with low P. Allocation of N belowground increased by approx. 50% under elevated CO2 irrespective of supplied P. The results suggest that where soil P availability is low, elevated CO2 will not increase BNF, and pasture quality could decrease because of a reduction in aboveground N.