Laboratory and field ecophysiological studies on the impact of air pollution on red spruce and Fraser fir

Thesis/Dissertation · Tue Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:5122388

Tyszko, P B

In the first study, red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.) and Fraser fir (Abies fraseri (Pursh.) Poir.) seedlings were submitted to long-term multiple growing cycle intermittent ozone fumigations. No effect of ozone exposure on growth and gas exchange of the seedlings was found. Net photosynthesis at saturating light intensity was reduced in both species and the light compensation point was shifted upwards in spruce when exposed to ozone. Fraser fir seedlings showed inconsistent responses of CO{sub 2} curve parameters to ozone exposure. In the second study, the impact of summer exposure to ambient pollutants on winter hardiness in red spruce seedlings was examined. The seedlings were subjected to the following summertime treatments while kept in exclusion chambers on the top of Whitetop Mountain (Virginia): ambient air and clouds, ambient air with clouds excluded, charcoal filtered air, and chamberless control treatment. During the following winter the seedlings were placed in Blacksburg (Virginia), in two locations: in the open and in a shadehouse. A number of conducted tests indicated that there were significant differences in winter damage between the chamber treatments and chamberless control, as well as between the winter exposure locations. Among the summer chamber exposure regimes, the treatment excluding clouds seemed to perform the best. In the third study, the physiology of red spruce trees of various sizes growing on two sites on the top of Whitetop Mtn., was compared and related to ambient ozone concentration. Some seedlings were treated with an antioxidant EDU, to help evaluate the impact of ozone on their physiology.

• Research Organization: Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State Univ., Blacksburg, VA (United States)
• OSTI ID: 5122388
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
560300 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
AIR POLLUTION
APPALACHIA
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
CONIFERS
FIRS
FORESTS
GROWTH
OZONE
PHOTOCHEMICAL REACTIONS
PHOTOSYNTHESIS
PINOPHYTA
PLANT GROWTH
PLANTS
POLLUTION
PRODUCTIVITY
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
SENSITIVITY
SPRUCES
SYNTHESIS
TOXICITY
TREES
VARIATIONS