• Energy Research
• 13. Climate action close

Abstract. Regional estimates of the effects of ozone pollution on forest growth depend on the availability of reliable injury functions that estimate a representative ecosystem response to ozone exposure. A number of such injury functions for forest tree species and forest functional types have recently been published and subsequently applied in terrestrial biosphere models to estimate regional or global effects of ozone on forest tree productivity and carbon storage in the living plant biomass. The resulting impacts estimated by these biosphere models show large uncertainty in the magnitude of ozone effects predicted. To understand the role that these injury functions play in determining the variability in estimated ozone impacts, we use the O-CN biosphere model to provide a standardised modelling framework. We test four published injury functions describing the leaf-level, photosynthetic response to ozone exposure (targeting the maximum carboxylation capacity of Rubisco (Vcmax) or net photosynthesis) in terms of their simulated whole-tree biomass responses against data from 23 ozone filtration/fumigation experiments conducted with young trees from European tree species at sites across Europe with a range of climatic conditions. Our results show that none of these previously published injury functions lead to simulated whole-tree biomass reductions in agreement with the observed dose–response relationships derived from these field experiments and instead lead to significant over- or underestimations of the ozone effect. By re-parameterising these photosynthetically based injury functions, we develop linear, plant-functional-type-specific dose–response relationships, which provide accurate simulations of the observed whole-tree biomass response across these 23 experiments.

Data from experiments where field-grown wheat was exposed to ozone were collated in order to compare the effects in Europe, Asia and North America using dose-response regression. In addition to grain yield, average grain mass and harvest index were included to reflect the influence of ozone on the crop growth pattern. In order to include as many experiments as possible, daytime average ozone concentration was used as the ozone exposure index, but AOT40, estimated from average ozone concentrations, was also used to compare the performance of the two exposure metrics. The response to ozone differed significantly between the continents only for grain yield when using AOT40 as the exposure index. North American wheat was less sensitive than European and Asian that responded similarly. The variation in responses across all three continents was smallest for harvest index, followed by grain mass and grain yield. The highly consistent effect on harvest index shows that not only effects on biomass accumulation, but also on the partitioning of biomass, are important for the ozone-induced grain yield loss in wheat. The average duration of daily ozone exposure was longer in European experiments compared to North American and Asian. It cannot be excluded that this contributed to the indicated higher ozone sensitivity in European wheat in relation to North American. The main conclusions from this study are that on the average the response of wheat to ozone was lower for the older North American experiments and that the ozone response of the growth pattern reflected by grain mass and harvest index did not differ between continents.

AbstractA key part of the uncertainty in terrestrial feedbacks on climate change is related to how and to what extent nitrogen (N) availability constrains the stimulation of terrestrial productivity by elevated CO2 (eCO2), and whether or not this constraint will become stronger over time. We explored the ecosystem‐scale relationship between responses of plant productivity and N acquisition to eCO2 in free‐air CO2 enrichment (FACE) experiments in grassland, cropland and forest ecosystems and found that: (i) in all three ecosystem types, this relationship was positive, linear and strong (r2 = 0.68), but exhibited a negative intercept such that plant N acquisition was decreased by 10% when eCO2 caused neutral or modest changes in productivity. As the ecosystems were markedly N limited, plants with minimal productivity responses to eCO2 likely acquired less N than ambient CO2‐grown counterparts because access was decreased, and not because demand was lower. (ii) Plant N concentration was lower under eCO2, and this decrease was independent of the presence or magnitude of eCO2‐induced productivity enhancement, refuting the long‐held hypothesis that this effect results from growth dilution. (iii) Effects of eCO2 on productivity and N acquisition did not diminish over time, while the typical eCO2‐induced decrease in plant N concentration did. Our results suggest that, at the decennial timescale covered by FACE studies, N limitation of eCO2‐induced terrestrial productivity enhancement is associated with negative effects of eCO2 on plant N acquisition rather than with growth dilution of plant N or processes leading to progressive N limitation.

Saplings of one half-sib family of birch, Betula pendula, were exposed to three levels of ozone in open-top chambers (OTCs) during two growing seasons 1997-1998. The ozone treatments were non-filtered air (NF, accumulated daylight AOT40 over the two growing seasons of 3.0 l l-1 h), non-filtered air with extra ozone (NF+, accumulated daylight AOT40 of 27.3 l l-1 h) and non-filtered air with additional extra ozone (NF++, accumulated daylight AOT40 of 120 l l-1 h). The birch saplings, including the roots, were harvested after the first and second growing seasons. After the first growing season, the NF++ treatment reduced the total wood biomass by 22%, relative to the NF treatment. There was no further reduction of the total wood biomass in the NF++ treatment after the second growing season. The root biomass was reduced by 30% after the first growing season. The shoot/root ratio, as well as the proportional biomass of leaves, were increased by ozone during both years. The ozone impact on the relative growth rate was estimated to -2% per 10 l l-1 h daylight AOT40 per growing season.

AbstractTropospheric ozone is considered the most detrimental air pollutant for vegetation at the global scale, with negative consequences for both provisioning and climate regulating ecosystem services. In spite of recent developments in ozone exposure metrics, from a concentration‐based to a more physiologically relevant stomatal flux‐based index, large‐scale ozone risk assessment is still complicated by a large and unexplained variation in ozone sensitivity among tree species. Here, we explored whether the variation in ozone sensitivity among woody species can be linked to interspecific variation in leaf morphology. We found that ozone tolerance at the leaf level was closely linked to leaf dry mass per unit leaf area (LMA) and that whole‐tree biomass reductions were more strongly related to stomatal flux per unit leaf mass (r2 = 0.56) than to stomatal flux per unit leaf area (r2 = 0.42). Furthermore, the interspecific variation in slopes of ozone flux–response relationships was considerably lower when expressed on a leaf mass basis (coefficient of variation, CV = 36%) than when expressed on a leaf area basis (CV = 66%), and relationships for broadleaf and needle‐leaf species converged when using the mass‐based index. These results show that much of the variation in ozone sensitivity among woody plants can be explained by interspecific variation in LMA and that large‐scale ozone impact assessment could be greatly improved by considering this well‐known and easily measured leaf trait.

AbstractIncreasing both crop productivity and the tolerance of crops to abiotic and biotic stresses is a major challenge for global food security in our rapidly changing climate. For the first time, we show how the spatial variation and severity of tropospheric ozone effects on yield compare with effects of other stresses on a global scale, and discuss mitigating actions against the negative effects of ozone. We show that the sensitivity to ozone declines in the order soybean > wheat > maize > rice, with genotypic variation in response being most pronounced for soybean and rice. Based on stomatal uptake, we estimate that ozone (mean of 2010–2012) reduces global yield annually by 12.4%, 7.1%, 4.4% and 6.1% for soybean, wheat, rice and maize, respectively (the “ozone yield gaps”), adding up to 227 Tg of lost yield. Our modelling shows that the highest ozone‐induced production losses for soybean are in North and South America whilst for wheat they are in India and China, for rice in parts of India, Bangladesh, China and Indonesia, and for maize in China and the United States. Crucially, we also show that the same areas are often also at risk of high losses from pests and diseases, heat stress and to a lesser extent aridity and nutrient stress. In a solution‐focussed analysis of these results, we provide a crop ideotype with tolerance of multiple stresses (including ozone) and describe how ozone effects could be included in crop breeding programmes. We also discuss altered crop management approaches that could be applied to reduce ozone impacts in the shorter term. Given the severity of ozone effects on staple food crops in areas of the world that are also challenged by other stresses, we recommend increased attention to the benefits that could be gained from addressing the ozone yield gap.