Abstract: Elevated ground-level ozone (O₃) is known to inhibit plant growth and development, but its interactive effects with other climate factors, such as elevated carbon dioxide, warming, drought, and nitrogen deposition, remain poorly understood. Here, a comprehensive meta-analysis was conducted to investigate the main and interactive effects of O₃ and multiple climate factors on plant photosynthetic rate, stomatal conductance, biomass production, and allocation. Our findings revealed a consistent pattern of O₃-induced overall reduction in plant photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, and biomass production across different CO₂, temperature, drought, and nitrogen deposition conditions. Elevated O₃ exposure caused significant declines in biomass production, with crops experiencing the largest reduction, followed by trees and grasses. The greater biomass loss in crops and trees might be due to their physiological traits, longer exposure durations, or agronomic management practices. Elevated CO₂ alleviated the negative effects of O₃ on plants, but it was reflected in the photosynthetic rate. Although the O₃-induced decrease in stomatal conductance and root biomass was reduced by increasing temperatures, warming had a limited effect on improving plant resistance to O₃. Interestingly, O₃ damage was reduced by drought through decreased stomatal conductance, whereas nitrogen addition did not affect the harm caused by O₃. Our findings provide insights into plant gas exchange, biomass, and allocation responses to the interaction of O₃ and climate factors, improving the understanding of plant adaptive mechanisms in the context of global change.

Key words: global change, climate factors, gas exchange, growth