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Species-Specific Responses to Ozone and Drought in Six Deciduous Trees

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Abstract

Saplings of alder (Alnus glutinosa), birch (Betula pendula), hazel (Corylus avellana), beech (Fagus sylvatica), ash (Fraxinus excelsior) and oak (Quercus robur) were exposed to five episodic ozone regimes in solardomes, with treatment means between 16 and 72 ppb. All trees were kept fully watered for the first 5 weeks of exposure, after which half the trees continued to be well-watered, whereas the other half were subjected to a moderate drought by applying approximately 45 % of the amount of water. Species-specific reductions in growth in response to both ozone and drought were found, which could result in reduced potential carbon sequestration in future ozone climates. In well watered conditions, the ozone treatments resulted in total biomass reductions for oak (18 %), alder (16 %), beech (15 %), ash (14 %), birch (14 %) and hazel (7 %) in the 72 ppb compared with the 32 ppb treatment. For beech, there was a reduction in growth in response to ozone in the well-watered treatment, but an increase in growth in response to ozone in the drought treatment, in contrast to the decreased growth that would occur as a result of stomatal closure in response to either the ozone or drought treatment, and therefore assumed to result from changes in hormonal signalling which could result in stomatal opening in combined ozone and drought conditions. For alder, in addition to a decrease in root biomass, there was reduced biomass of root nodules with high compared with low ozone for both drought-treated and well-watered trees. There was also a large reduction in the biomass of nodules from drought trees compared with well-watered. It is therefore possible that changes in the nitrogen dynamics of alder could occur due to reduced nodulation in both drought and elevated ozone conditions.

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Acknowledgments

Thanks to Aled Williams (Aled Williams Mechatronics) for maintenance of the Solardomes ozone exposure facility.

Funding

This study was made possible by financial support from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, UK, project reference NEC04951.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CEH Bangor, Environment Centre Wales, Deiniol Road, Bangor, LL57 2UW, UK

    Felicity Hayes, Jennifer Williamson & Gina Mills

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  1. Felicity Hayes
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  2. Jennifer Williamson
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  3. Gina Mills
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Correspondence to Felicity Hayes.

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Hayes, F., Williamson, J. & Mills, G. Species-Specific Responses to Ozone and Drought in Six Deciduous Trees. Water Air Soil Pollut 226, 156 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-015-2428-0

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