Biomonitoring ozone phytotoxicity in eastern Spain (original) (raw)
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Biomonitoring of tropospheric ozone phytotoxicity in rural Catalonia
Atmospheric Environment, 2003
The ozone (O3) phytotoxicity in rural areas of Catalonia (NE Spain) and the biomonitoring capacity of Bel-W3 tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cultivars were assessed by determining the percentage of leaf area injured by ozone in plants of this cultivar exposed from spring to autumn since 1995–1999. The study was conducted simultaneously on nine field sites where ground level ozone concentrations and
1998
A field study was conducted from May to October 1995 to assess ozone (O3) phytotoxicity in Catalonia (NE Spain) by determining a percentage value of leaf area injured by ozone on three tobacco cultivars, Bel-W3, Bel-C and Bel-B as bioindicators. Colorimetric parameters were also determined in an effort to have an objective assessment of ozone injury. The study was conducted simultaneously on eight sites where ozone levels and several meteorological parameters were continuosly monitored. Two sets of plants were used at each site. The first one was composed of six plants of each cultivar which were changed every two weeks while the second one involved two plants of each cultivar which were kept in the plots throughout the whole experimental period. Open Top Chambers were also used to test the response of the three cultivars to ozone under controlled conditions. The ozone levels correlated well with ozone injury on the Bel-W3 cultivar but not as well on the other two cultivars. The ozone levels did not fully account for all the observed injury. The response of tobacco plants to ozone concentrations and therefore its biomonitoring capacity depended also on different environmental conditions linked to stomatal behaviour such as temperature, humidity, wind or altitude. These environmental conditions had some effects on the intensity of Ozone injury. Ozone concentrations accumulated over a threshold of 60 ppb (AOT60) when VPD was below 1 KPa. Correlated well with the ozone injury and best explained the intensity tobacco injury symptoms. For large plants growing throughout the whole period of study, Bel-C was the best indicator cultivar for AOT60 over the 3 days prior to the last ozone injury assessment. The colorimetric parameters were indicators of seasonal changes but they were not good ozone damage indicators. It is concluded that tobacco cultivars were good bioindicators but meteorological and other environmental factors need to be considered in there use as biomonitors.
Ozone Biomonitoring with Bel-W3 Tobacco Plants in the City of Valencia (Spain)
Water, Air, and Soil Pollution, 2007
A biomonitoring study using the ozonesensitive bioindicator plant Nicotiana tabacum cv. Bel-W3 was conducted in the city of Valencia (eastern Spain) and surrounding areas in 2002. Plants were exposed to ambient air at seven sites, including four traffic-exposed urban sites, a large urban garden and a suburban and a rural station, for six consecutive 2-week periods using highly standardised methods. Foliar injury was registered at all stations in at least one of the exposure periods. The urban stations submitted to intense traffic showed lower ozone injury than the less traffic-exposed stations. Strong changes in the intensity of ozone injury were observed for the different exposure periods. Leaf injury was significantly related to both mean ozone values (24 and 12 h means) and cumulative exposure indices (AOT20, AOT40). However, correlation strength was moderate (r s =0.39 to 0.58), suggesting that the plant response to ozone was modified by environmental factors. The use of sensitive bioindicators like tobacco Bel-W3 in cities provides complementary information to that of continuously operating air quality monitors, as the impact of ambient ozone levels is directly measured.
Atmospheric Environment, 2006
Within the scope of a biomonitoring study conducted in twelve urban agglomerations in eight European countries, the ozone-sensitive bioindicator plant Nicotiana tabacum cv. Bel-W3 was employed in order to assess the occurrence of phytotoxic ozone effects at urban, suburban, rural and traffic-exposed sites. The tobacco plants were exposed to ambient air for biweekly periods at up to 100 biomonitoring sites from 2000 to 2002. Special emphasis was placed upon methodological standardisation of plant cultivation, field exposure and injury assessment. Ozone-induced leaf injury showed a clearly increasing gradient from northern and northwestern Europe to central and southern European locations. The strongest ozone impact occurred at the exposure sites in Lyon and Barcelona, while in Edinburgh, Sheffield, Copenhagen and Du¨sseldorf only weak to moderate ozone effects were registered. Between-site differences within local networks were relatively small, but seasonal and inter-annual differences were strong due to the variability of meteorological conditions and related ozone concentrations.
Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 1995
An innovative miniaturized kit based on the use of 2-week-old ozone-supersensitive tobacco germlings (Nicotiana tabacum L. cv. Bel-W3) raised in tissue culture plates was utilized, in conjunction with four calibrated automatic analyzers, to monitor the distribution of phytotoxic ground level ozone in Tuscany during the summer of 1993 at 27 sites differing in nature. Germlings of ozone-resistant Bel-B tobacco were also included in the protocol. The intensity of visible injury on the cotyledons of Bel-W3 was linearly correlated with several ozone statistical descriptors. The occurrence of phytotoxic levels of photochemical ozone was detected in all the monitoring sites, which included rural and remote areas, whose local sources of pollution were negligible. The suitability of the new methodology for low-cost, space-saving, user-friendly monitoring of ozone on a large geographical scale is discussed.
Adverse effects of ambient ozone on watermelon yield and physiology at a rural site in Eastern Spain
New Phytologist, 1999
The study reported was conducted to establish the impacts of photochemical oxidants (primarily ambient ozone, O $ ) on the yield of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) at a site on the east coast of Spain. Fruit yield and quality were monitored in plots established in a commercial watermelon field exposed, in open-top chambers (OTCs), to nonfiltered air (NFA ; near-ambient levels of ozone) or charcoal-filtered air (decreased levels of photochemical oxidants including O $ ; CFA), or to ambient air (AA), during the 1988 and 1989 growing seasons. Ambient levels of O $ were found to exceed present UN-ECE (United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ; Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution) critical level guidelines for the protection of crop yield by approx. twofold in 1988 and by approx. fivefold in 1989. Plants exposed to NFA and AA developed visible O $ injury on the upper surface of sun-exposed older leaves, and fruit yield (annual marketable fruit weight and number) was found to be depressed in OTCs ventilated with NFA in comparison with those receiving CFA. Consistent with inter-annual variations in O $ exposure, greater yield losses were experienced in 1989 (39%) than in 1988 (19%), an effect mediated predominantly by a decline in fruit number rather than average fruit weight. Exposure to ambient levels of ozone also slightly decreased fruit quality (4-8% decline in soluble solids content). Leaf gas exchange measurements made in the field in 1988 revealed effects of O $ on fruit yield and quality to be associated with a decline in the net CO # assimilation rate per unit leaf area under light saturation (A sat ) and stomatal conductance to water vapour (g s ), and enhanced rates of dark respiration. A\c i curves (where A is the net CO # assimilation rate per unit leaf area and c i is the mole fraction of CO # in the leaf intercellular air space) constructed for plants grown in laboratory-based closed chambers, and exposed to an accumulated O $ exposure similar to that experienced by plants in the field, suggested that the likely cause of the decline in photosynthetic capacity was (1) a decrease in the amount and\or activity of Rubisco and (2) an impaired capacity for regeneration of ribulose 1,5bisphosphate, which was not mediated through changes in the photochemical efficiency of photosystem II (F v \F m , where F v is variable chlorophyll a fluorescence and F m is maximum chlorophyll a fluorescence). No shift in the relative stomatal limitation to photosynthesis was observed under the influence of O $ , suggesting that the decline in g s induced by the pollutant in both field and laboratory was the result, and not the cause, of the decrease in A sat . Ozone exposure also caused a decrease in C isotope discrimination (approx. 0.5=), a shift that revealed a departure from predicted theory based on supporting leaf gas exchange measurements. The study demonstrates that ambient levels of photochemical oxidants on the Spanish Mediterranean coast are high enough to adversely influence the yield and physiology of an economically important crop grown in the region, and the magnitude of the effects was
Setting ozone critical levels for protecting horticultural Mediterranean crops: Case study of tomato
Environmental Pollution, 2014
Seven experiments carried out in Italy and Spain have been used to parameterising a stomatal conductance model and establishing exposuree and doseeresponse relationships for yield and quality of tomato with the main goal of setting O 3 critical levels (CLe). CLe with confidence intervals, between brackets, were set at an accumulated hourly O 3 exposure over 40 nl l À1 , AOT40 ¼ 8.4 (1.2, 15.6) ppm h and a phytotoxic ozone dose above a threshold of 6 nmol m À2 s À1 , POD6 ¼ 2.7 (0.8, 4.6) mmol m À2 for yield and AOT40 ¼ 18.7 (8.5, 28.8) ppm h and POD6 ¼ 4.1 (2.0, 6.2) mmol m À2 for quality, both indices performing equally well. CLe confidence intervals provide information on the quality of the dataset and should be included in future calculations of O 3 CLe for improving current methodologies.
An international cooperative programme indicates the widespread occurrence of ozone injury on crops
Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 2000
The UN/ECE ICP-Vegetation 1 routinely investigates the effects of ambient ozone pollution on crops throughout Europe. Each year, a series of co-ordinated ambient air experiments are conducted over a large area of Europe and a range of crop species are observed for the occurrence of injury following ozone episodes. In 1995 and 1996, ozone injury was observed at sites throughout Europe from United Kingdom (Nottingham) to the Russian Federation (Moscow) and from Sweden (Östad) to Italy (Naples). The only site participating in the ICP-Vegetation where it was not observed was that at Finland (Jokioinen). Injury was identified on subterranean and white clover, French bean, soybean, tomato, and watermelon at one or more sites. Injury was also detected in gardens and on crops growing in commercial fields. Two short-term critical levels which incorporate ozone dose and air saturation vapour pressure deficit (VPD) were derived from the 1995 data. These were (i) an AOT40 2 of 200 ppb.h over 5 days when mean VPD (0930-1630 h) is below 1.5 kPa and (ii) an AOT40 of 500 ppb.h over 5 days when mean VPD (0930-1630 h) is above 1.5 kPa. In general, the 1996 data supported these critical levels although injury did occur on two occasions when the AOT40 was less than 50 ppb.h, and the VPD was less than 0.6 kPa. Thus, ICP-Vegetation experiments have shown that ozone injury can occur over much of Europe and that plants are most at risk in conditions of high atmospheric humidity.
Assessment of Tropospheric Ozone Impact on Crops in Crete (Greece) Using Snap Bean as Bioindicator
Ground-level ozone (O 3) damages plants by causing visible injury and reductions in plant growth and productivity. In this study, the sensitive and tolerant genotype model (S156/R123) of snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) was used in Crete (Greece) for assessing tropospheric O 3 impact on crops. Plants were grown at a field site (latitude 35°20'N, longitude 25°08'E, 10 m.a.s.l.) situated in the suburbs of Heraklion, using a standardised protocol developed by the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe. Damaged leaves, scored at more than 25% O 3 injury at the end of the season, reached a level of 57.1% for the sensitive genotypes and 14.7% for the tolerant ones. No differences were found between the two genotypes on abaxial surface stomatal conductance and on the number of mature pods. However, there was a significant (P< 0.001) decline in S156/ R123 biomass ratio, with biomass being reduced by 30% more for S156 than R123. The antioxidants detected in this work serve important signaling functions in the course of the oxidative stress response to O 3. Early in the 4 th week after plantation, lipid peroxidation levels were lower in the resistant to O 3 genotype, as compared to the sensitive one. On the contrary, although proline content significantly increased in both genotypes, the increase was much higher in the tolerant one. Total phenolics were also significantly higher in the tolerant genotype, later in the 8 th week after plantation. The levels of O 3 measured in Crete and the impacts observed during experimentation indicate that O 3 pollution may already have detrimental effects on 'sensitive' horticultural crops grown across the island and across the rest of Greece. Further investigations are necessary to determine the extent and the severity of these effects.
Plant Biosystems - An International Journal Dealing with all Aspects of Plant Biology, 2005
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