Environmental Science and Pollution Research

, Volume 25, Issue 9, pp 8161–8173 | Cite as

Living in a Mediterranean city in 2050: broadleaf or evergreen ‘citizens’?

  • Lorenzo Cotrozzi
  • Damiano Remorini
  • Elisa Pellegrini
  • Lucia Guidi
  • Cristina Nali
  • Giacomo Lorenzini
  • Rossano Massai
  • Marco Landi
Ozone and plant life: the Italian state-of-the-art
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Abstract

The predicted effects of global change (GC) will be exacerbated in the more densely populated cities of the future, especially in the Mediterranean basin where some environmental cues, such as drought and tropospheric ozone (O3) pollution, already mine seriously plant survival. Physiological and biochemical responses of a Mediterranean, evergreen, isohydric plant species (Quercus ilex) were compared to those of a sympatric, deciduous, anisohydric species (Q. pubescens) under severe drought (20% of the effective daily evapotranspiration) and/or chronic O3 exposure (80 ppb for 5 h day−1 for 28 consecutive days) to test which one was more successful in those highly limiting conditions. Results show that (i) the lower reduction of total leaf biomass of Q. ilex as compared to Q. pubescens when subjected to drought and drought × O3 (on average −59 vs −70%, respectively); (ii) the steeper decline of photosynthesis found in Q. pubescens under drought (−87 vs −81%) and drought × O3 (−69 vs −59%, respectively); (iii) the increments of malondialdehyde (MDA) by-products found only in drought-stressed Q. pubescens; (iv) the impact of O3, found only in Q. pubescens leaves and MDA, can be considered the best probes of the superiority of Q. ilex to counteract the effect of mild-severe drought and O3 stress. Also, an antagonistic effect was found when drought and O3 were applied simultaneously, as usually happens during typical Mediterranean summers. Our dataset suggests that on future, the urban greening should be wisely pondered on the ability of trees to cope the most impacting factors of GC, and in particular their simultaneity.

Keywords

Climate change Drought Oxidative stress Physiological adjustments Quercus ilex Quercus pubescens Tropospheric ozone Urban greening 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This study was supported by MIUR, Rome, PRIN 2010-2011 project: “Planning the green city in the global change era: urban tree functions and suitability for predicted future climates (TreeCity)” and by University of Pisa, Progetti di Ricerca di Ateneo (PRA) 2015 project: “Urban trees in the age of Global Change.” We are thankful to Dr. Paolo Cherubini (Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, CH) for the critical review of the manuscript.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Supplementary material

11356_2017_9316_MOESM1_ESM.docx (16 kb)
Table S1 (DOCX 15 kb)
11356_2017_9316_MOESM2_ESM.docx (175 kb)
Figure S1 (DOCX 175 kb)

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Copyright information

© Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Lorenzo Cotrozzi
    • 1
  • Damiano Remorini
    • 1
  • Elisa Pellegrini
    • 1
  • Lucia Guidi
    • 1
  • Cristina Nali
    • 1
  • Giacomo Lorenzini
    • 1
  • Rossano Massai
    • 1
  • Marco Landi
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of Agriculture, Food and EnvironmentUniversity of PisaPisaItaly

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