In recognition of the role of plants in the bio-geosphere carbon cycle, the Department of Energy (OHER) initiated a research program: The Direct Effects of Increasing Carbon Dioxide on Vegetation. This report describes the continuing research that we are conducting as part of this program. The ultimate goal of our research is to develop computer models capable of predicting responses of plants and ecosystems to the direct and indirect effects of atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide that are approximately twice those of the preindustrial period. The understanding of ecosystem responses to elevated CO{sub 2} necessarily depends on knowledge of responses of individual plants and their interactions with one another and their environment Our research approach incorporates the study and modeling of response to CO{sub 2} at all levels of the plant-community-ecosystem hierarchy, in an effort to understand the linkages and translation of effects of CO{sub 2} from one level to another. The research results reported here focus at several different levels of this hierarchy, and are highlights of accomplishments for the period September 1992 to June 1993.

The authors analyze the consequences of models of structure formation for higher-order (n-point) galaxy correlation functions in the mildly non-linear regime. Several variations of the standard [Omega] = 1 cold dark matter model with scale-invariant primordial perturbations have recently been introduced to obtain more power on large scales, R[sub p] [approximately]20 h[sup [minus]1] Mpc, e.g., low-matter-density (non-zero cosmological constant) models, [open quote]tilted[close quote] primordial spectra, and scenarios with a mixture of cold and hot dark matter. They also include models with an effective scale-dependent bias, such as the cooperative galaxy formation scenario of Bower, et al. The authors show that higher-order (n-point) galaxy correlation functions can provide a useful test of such models and can discriminate between models with true large-scale power in the density field and those where the galaxy power arises from scale-dependent bias: a bias with rapid scale-dependence leads to a dramatic decrease of the hierarchical amplitudes Q[sub J] at large scales, r [approx gt] R[sub p]. Current observational constraints on the three-point amplitudes Q[sub 3] and S[sub 3] can place limits on the bias parameter(s) and appear to disfavor, but not yet rule out, the hypothesis that scale-dependent bias is responsible for the extra power observed …

The authors analyze the consequences of models of structure formation for higher-order (n-point) galaxy correlation functions in the mildly non-linear regime. Several variations of the standard {Omega} = 1 cold dark matter model with scale-invariant primordial perturbations have recently been introduced to obtain more power on large scales, R{sub p} {approximately}20 h{sup {minus}1} Mpc, e.g., low-matter-density (non-zero cosmological constant) models, {open_quote}tilted{close_quote} primordial spectra, and scenarios with a mixture of cold and hot dark matter. They also include models with an effective scale-dependent bias, such as the cooperative galaxy formation scenario of Bower, et al. The authors show that higher-order (n-point) galaxy correlation functions can provide a useful test of such models and can discriminate between models with true large-scale power in the density field and those where the galaxy power arises from scale-dependent bias: a bias with rapid scale-dependence leads to a dramatic decrease of the hierarchical amplitudes Q{sub J} at large scales, r {approx_gt} R{sub p}. Current observational constraints on the three-point amplitudes Q{sub 3} and S{sub 3} can place limits on the bias parameter(s) and appear to disfavor, but not yet rule out, the hypothesis that scale-dependent bias is responsible for the extra power observed on large scales.