ALBERT

Description: The DO3SE (Deposition of O3 for Stomatal Exchange) model is an established tool for estimating ozone (O3) deposition, stomatal flux and impacts to a variety of vegetation types across Europe. It has been embedded within the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) photochemical model to provide a policy tool capable of relating the flux-based risk of vegetation damage to O3 precursor emission scenarios for use in policy formulation. A key limitation of regional flux-based risk assessments has been the assumption that soil water deficits are not limiting O3 flux due to the unavailability of evaluated methods for modelling soil water deficits and their influence on stomatal conductance (gsto), and subsequent O3 flux. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a method to estimate soil moisture status and its influence on gsto for a variety of forest tree species. This DO3SE soil moisture module uses the Penman-Monteith energy balance method to drive water cycling through the soil-plant-atmosphere system and empirical data describing gsto relationships with pre-dawn leaf water status to estimate the biological control of transpiration. We trial four different methods to estimate this biological control of the transpiration stream, which vary from simple methods that relate soil water content or potential directly to gsto, to more complex methods that incorporate hydraulic resistance and plant capacitance that control water flow through the plant system. These methods are evaluated against field data describing a variety of soil water variables, gsto and transpiration data for Norway spruce (Picea abies), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), birch (Betula pendula), aspen (Populus tremuloides), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and holm oak (Quercus ilex) collected from ten sites across Europe and North America. Modelled estimates of these variables show consistency with observed data when applying the simple empirical methods, with the timing and magnitude of soil drying events being captured well across all sites and reductions in transpiration with the onset of drought being predicted with reasonable accuracy. The more complex methods, which incorporate hydraulic resistance and plant capacitance, perform less well, with predicted drying cycles consistently underestimating the rate and magnitude of water loss from the soil. A sensitivity analysis showed that model performance was strongly dependent upon the local parameterisation of key model drivers such as the maximum gsto, soil texture, root depth and leaf area index. The results suggest that the simple modelling methods that relate gsto directly to soil water content and potential provide adequate estimates of soil moisture and influence on gsto such that they are suitable to be used to assess the potential risk posed by O3 to forest trees across Europe.

Description: The DO3SE (Deposition of O3 for Stomatal Exchange) model is an established tool for estimating ozone (O3) deposition, stomatal flux and impacts to a variety of vegetation types across Europe. It has been embedded within the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) photochemical model to provide a policy tool capable of relating the risk of vegetation damage to O3 precursor emission scenarios for use in policy formulation. A key limitation of regional flux-based risk assessments so far has been the approximation that soil water deficits are not limiting O3 flux due to the unavailability of evaluated methods for modelling soil water deficits and their influence on stomatal conductance (gsto), and ultimately O3 flux. This paper describes the development and evaluation of a method to estimate soil moisture status and its influence on gsto for a variety of forest tree species. The soil moisture module uses the Penman-Monteith energy balance method to drive water cycling through the soil-plant-atmosphere system and empirical data describing gsto relationships with pre-dawn leaf water status to estimate the biological control of transpiration. We trial four different methods to estimate this biological control of the transpiration stream, which vary from simple methods that relate soil water content or potential directly to gsto to more complex methods that incorporate hydraulic resistance and plant capacitance that control water flow through the plant system. These methods are evaluated against field data describing a variety of soil water variables, gsto and transpiration data for Norway spruce (Picea abies), Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris), birch (Betula pendula), aspen (Populus tremuloides), beech (Fagus sylvatica) and holm oak (Quercus ilex) collected from ten sites across Europe and North America. Modelled estimates of these variables show consistency with observed data when applying the simple empirical methods, with the timing and magnitude of soil drying events being captured well across all sites and reductions in transpiration with the onset of drought being predicted with reasonable accuracy. The more complex methods which incorporate hydraulic resistance and plant capacitance perform less well, with predicted drying cycles consistently underestimating the rate and magnitude of water lost from the soil. A sensitivity analysis showed that model performance was strongly dependent upon the local parameterisation of key model drivers such as the maximum stomatal conductance, soil texture, root depth and leaf area index. The results suggest that the simple modelling methods that relate gsto directly to soil water content and potential provide adequate estimates of soil moisture and influence on gsto such that they are suitable to be used to assess the potential risk posed by O3 to forest trees across Europe.

Description: The present study compares the dynamics in carbon (C) allocation of adult deciduous beech (Fagus sylvatica) and evergreen spruce (Picea abies) during summer and in response to seven-year-long exposure with twice-ambient ozone (O3) concentrations (2 × O3). Focus was on the respiratory turn-over and translocation of recent photosynthates at various positions along the stems, coarse roots and soils. The hypotheses tested were that (1) 2 × O3 decreases the allocation of recent photosynthates to CO2 efflux of stems and coarse roots of adult trees, and that (2) according to their different O3 sensitivities this effect is stronger in beech than in spruce. Labeling of whole tree canopies was applied by releasing 13C depleted CO2 (δ13C of −46.9‰) using a free-air stable carbon isotope approach. Canopy air δ13C was reduced for about 2.5 weeks by ca. 8‰ in beech and 6‰ in spruce while the increase in CO2 concentration was limited to about 110 μL L−1 and 80 μL L−1, respectively. At the end of the labeling period, δ13C of stem CO2 efflux and phloem sugars was reduced to a similar extend by ca. 3–4‰ (beech) and ca. 2–3‰ (spruce). The fraction of labeled C (fE,new) in stem CO2 efflux amounted to 0.3 to 0.4, indicating slow C turnover of the respiratory supply system in both species. Elevated O3 slightly stimulated the allocation of recently fixed photosynthates to stem and coarse root respiration in spruce (rejection of hypothesis I for spruce), but resulted in a significant reduction in C flux in beech (acceptance of hypotheses I and II). The distinct decreased in C allocation to beech stems indicates the potential of chronic O3 stress to substantially mitigate the C sink strength of trees on the long-term scale.

Description: The present study compares the dynamics in carbon (C) allocation of adult deciduous beech (Fagus sylvatica) and evergreen spruce (Picea abies) during summer and in response to seven-year-long exposure with twice-ambient ozone (O3) concentrations (2 × O3). Focus was on the respiratory turn-over and translocation of recent photosynthates at various positions along the stems, coarse roots and soils. The hypotheses tested were that (1) 2 × O3 decreases the allocation of recent photosynthates to CO2 efflux of stems and coarse roots of adult trees, and that (2) according to their different O3 sensitivities this effect is stronger in beech than in spruce. Labeling of whole tree canopies was applied by releasing 13C depleted CO2 (δ13C of −46.9‰) using a free-air stable carbon isotope approach. Canopy air δ13C was reduced for about 2.5 weeks by ca. 8‰ in beech and 6‰ in spruce while the increase in CO2 concentration was limited to about 110 μl l−1 and 80 μl l−1, respectively. At the end of the labeling period, δ13C of stem CO2 efflux and phloem sugars was reduced to a similar extend by ca. 3–4‰ (beech) and ca. 2–3‰ (spruce). The fraction of labeled C (fE,new) in stem CO2 efflux amounted to 0.3 to 0.4, indicating slow C turnover of the respiratory supply system in both species. Elevated O3 slightly stimulated the allocation of recently fixed photosynthates to stem and coarse root respiration in spruce (rejection of hypothesis I for spruce), but resulted in a significant reduction in C flux in beech (acceptance of hypotheses I and II). The distinct decrease in C allocation to beech stems indicates the potential of chronic O3 stress to substantially mitigate the C sink strength of trees on the long-term scale.