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Title: Atmospheric benzenoid emissions from plants rival those from fossil fuels

Journal Article · · Scientific Reports
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/srep12064· OSTI ID:1211536
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7];  [8];  [8];  [9];  [10];  [11];  [12];  [9];  [13];  [11];  [14];  [15];  [16];  [3] more »;  [8];  [4];  [17];  [18];  [11];  [19];  [20];  [8];  [21];  [21];  [18];  [22];  [23];  [24] « less
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States). Atmospheric Chemistry Division.
  2. Lancaster Univ., Lancaster (United Kingdom)
  3. Institut IBG-2, Julich (Germany)
  4. Univ. of Eastern Finland, Kuopio (Finland)
  5. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States)
  6. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Research Centre for the Soil-Plant System, Rome (Italy)
  7. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Yale Univ., New Haven, CT (United States)
  8. Univ. of Colorado, Boulder, CO (United States); ESRL-NOAA, Boulder, CO (United States). Chemical Science Division.
  9. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States). Atmospheric Chemistry Division.
  10. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States). Atmospheric Chemistry Division; Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States); Washington State Univ., Pullman, WA (United States)
  11. Univ. of Innsbruck, Innsbruck (Austria)
  12. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States). Atmospheric Chemistry Division; Estonian Univ. of Life Sciences, Tartu (Estonia)
  13. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  14. National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, CO (United States). Atmospheric Chemistry Division; Univ. of Innsbruck, Innsbruck (Austria)
  15. Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, WI (United States)
  16. Institut IEK-8, Julich (Germany)
  17. Stony Brook Univ., Stony Brook, NY (United States)
  18. Max Planck Institut fur Chemie, Mainz (Germany)
  19. Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Mohali (India)
  20. Aerosol Dynamics Inc., Berkeley, CA (United States)
  21. Univ. Bayreuth, Bayreuth (Germany)
  22. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States); Aerosol Dynamics Inc., Berkeley, CA (United States)
  23. Univ. of Sciences and Technology Houari Boumediene, Algiers (Algeria); Centre de Developpement des Energies Renouvelable, Algiers (Algeria)
  24. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)

Despite the known biochemical production of a range of aromatic compounds by plants and the presence of benzenoids in floral scents, the emissions of only a few benzenoid compounds have been reported from the biosphere to the atmosphere. Here, using evidence from measurements at aircraft, ecosystem, tree, branch and leaf scales, with complementary isotopic labeling experiments, we show that vegetation (leaves, flowers, and phytoplankton) emits a wide variety of benzenoid compounds to the atmosphere at substantial rates. Controlled environment experiments show that plants are able to alter their metabolism to produce and release many benzenoids under stress conditions. The functions of these compounds remain unclear but may be related to chemical communication and protection against stress. We estimate the total global secondary organic aerosol potential from biogenic benzenoids to be similar to that from anthropogenic benzenoids (~10?Tg y-1), pointing to the importance of these natural emissions in atmospheric physics and chemistry.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States); Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER)
Grant/Contract Number:
AC05-76RL01830; AC02-05CH11231
OSTI ID:
1211536
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1407370; OSTI ID: 1700676
Report Number(s):
PNNL-SA-114338; srep12064
Journal Information:
Scientific Reports, Vol. 5; ISSN 2045-2322
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 90 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (26)

Functional traits of urban trees: air pollution mitigation potential journal October 2016
Unravelling the functions of biogenic volatiles in boreal and temperate forest ecosystems journal July 2019
Emission of Volatile Compounds from Apple Plants Infested with Pandemis heparana Larvae, Antennal Response of Conspecific Adults, and Preliminary Field Trial journal November 2016
Unexpected seasonality in quantity and composition of Amazon rainforest air reactivity journal January 2016
Methyl salicylate differently affects benzenoid and terpenoid volatile emissions in Betula pendula journal June 2018
Real-time carbon allocation into biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) and respiratory carbon dioxide (CO2) traced by PTR-TOF-MS, 13CO2 laser spectroscopy and 13C-pyruvate labelling journal September 2018
In situ secondary organic aerosol formation from ambient pine forest air using an oxidation flow reactor journal January 2016
Anthropogenic and biogenic influence on VOC fluxes at an urban background site in Helsinki, Finland journal January 2016
Secondary organic aerosol from atmospheric photooxidation of indole journal January 2017
Ethene, propene, butene and isoprene emissions from a ponderosa pine forest measured by relaxed eddy accumulation journal January 2017
Field observations of volatile organic compound (VOC) exchange in red oaks journal January 2017
Source apportionment of NMVOCs in the Kathmandu Valley during the SusKat-ABC international field campaign using positive matrix factorization journal January 2017
Secondary organic aerosol formation from ambient air in an oxidation flow reactor in central Amazonia journal January 2018
Estimation of rate coefficients and branching ratios for gas-phase reactions of OH with aromatic organic compounds for use in automated mechanism construction journal January 2018
Multi-generation OH oxidation as a source for highly oxygenated organic molecules from aromatics journal January 2020
The interference of tetrachloromethane in the measurement of benzene in the air by a gas chromatography–photoionisation detector (GC-PID) journal January 2019
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Implementation of the MEGAN (v2.1) biogenic emission model in the ECHAM6-HAMMOZ chemistry climate model text January 2017
Source apportionment of NMVOCs in the Kathmandu Valley during the SusKat-ABC international field campaign using positive matrix factorization posted_content February 2017
Estimation of rate coefficients and branching ratios for gas-phase reactions of OH with aromatic organic compounds for use in automated mechanism construction posted_content February 2018
In situ secondary organic aerosol formation from ambient pine forest air using an oxidation flow reactor journal January 2015
Nitrate radicals and biogenic volatile organic compounds: oxidation, mechanisms, and organic aerosol journal January 2017
Secondary Organic Aerosol from Atmospheric Photooxidation of Indole posted_content March 2017
Ethene, propene, butene and isoprene emissions from a ponderosa pine forest measured by Relaxed Eddy Accumulation posted_content May 2017
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