Physiological responses of birch (Betula pendula) to ozone: a comparison between open-soil-grown trees exposed for six growing seasons and potted seedlings exposed for one season

Physiological responses of 4-year-old potted saplings of an O3-tolerant clone of Betula pendula Roth to short-term ozone (O3) exposure (one growing season) were compared with those of 6-year-old open-soil-grown trees of the same clone fumigated with O3 for six growing seasons. In the 2001 growing season, both groups of plants were exposed to ambient (control) and 1.6x ambient (elevated) O3 concentration under similar microclimatic conditions in a free air O3 exposure facility. Growth, net photosynthesis, stomatal conductance, stomatal density, visible foliar injury, starch and nutrient concentrations, bud formation and differences in O3 responses between lower, middle and upper sections of the canopy were determined. The potted saplings were unaffected by elevated O3 concentration, whereas the open-soil-grown trees showed a 3-38% reduction in shoot growth, a 22% reduction in number of overwintering buds, a 26-65% decrease in autumnal net photosynthesis, 30% and 20-23% reductions in starch and nitrogen concentrations of senescing leaves, respectively, and disturbances in stomatal conductance. The greater O3 sensitivity of open-soil-grown trees compared with potted saplings was a result of senescence-related physiological factors. First, a lower net photosynthesis to stomatal conductance ratio in open-soil-grown trees at the end of the season promoted O3 uptake and decreased photosynthetic gain, leading to the onset of visible foliar injuries. Second, decreased carbohydrate reserves may have resulted in deleterious carry-over effects arising from the reduced formation of over-wintering buds. Finally, the leaf-level O3 load was higher for open-soil-grown trees than for potted saplings because of slower leaf senescence in the trees. Thus, O3 sensitivity in European white birch increases with increasing exposure time and tree size.     

Leaf-level responses to light in two co-occurring <Emphasis Type="Italic">Quercus</Emphasis> (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Quercus ilex</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Quercus suber</Emphasis>): leaf structure,chemical composition and photosynthesis

We studied morphological, biochemical and physiological leaf acclimation to incident Photon-Photosynthetic-Flux-Density (PPFD) in Quercus ilex (holm oak) and Quercus suber (cork oak) at Mediterranean evergreen oak woodlands of southern Portugal. Specific leaf area (SLA) decreased exponentially with increasing PPFD in both species. Q. ilex had lower SLA values than Q. suber. Leaf nitrogen, cellulose and lignin concentration (leaf area-based) scaled positively with PPFD. Maximum rate of carboxylation (V_cmax), capacity for maximum photosynthetic electron transport (J_max), rate of triose-P utilization (V_TPU) and the rate of nonphotorespiratory light respiration (Rd) were also positively correlated with PPFD in both Quercus species, when expressed in leaf area but not on leaf mass basis. Q suber showed to have higher photosynthetic potential (V_cmax, J_max^m and V_TPU^m) and a higher nitrogen efficient nitrogen use than Q.ilex. Leaf chlorophyll concentration increased with decreasing PPFD, improving apparent quantum use efficiency (Φ) in both Quercus species. We concluded that, in Q.ilex and Q.suber, leaf structural plasticity is a stronger determinant for leaf acclimation to PPFD than biochemical and physiological plasticity.