• Energy Research

AbstractElevated tropospheric ozone (O3) affects the allocation of biomass aboveground and belowground and influences terrestrial ecosystem functions. However, how belowground functions respond to elevated O3 concentrations ([O3]) remains unclear at the global scale. Here, we conducted a detailed synthesis of belowground functioning responses to elevated [O3] by performing a meta‐analysis of 2395 paired observations from 222 publications. We found that elevated [O3] significantly reduced the primary productivity of roots by 19.8%, 16.3%, and 26.9% for crops, trees and grasses, respectively. Elevated [O3] strongly decreased the root/shoot ratio by 11.3% for crops and by 4.9% for trees, which indicated that roots were highly sensitive to O3. Elevated [O3] impacted carbon and nitrogen cycling in croplands, as evidenced by decreased dissolved organic carbon, microbial biomass carbon, total soil nitrogen, ammonium nitrogen, microbial biomass nitrogen, and nitrification rates in association with increased nitrate nitrogen and denitrification rates. Elevated [O3] significantly decreased fungal phospholipid fatty acids in croplands, which suggested that O3 altered the microbial community and composition. The responses of belowground functions to elevated [O3] were modified by experimental methods, root environments, and additional global change factors. Therefore, these factors should be considered to avoid the underestimation or overestimation of the impacts of elevated [O3] on belowground functioning. The significant negative relationships between O3‐treated intensity and the multifunctionality index for croplands, forests, and grasslands implied that elevated [O3] decreases belowground ecosystem multifunctionality.

AbstractLoss of plant diversity with increased anthropogenic nitrogen (N) deposition in grasslands has occurred globally. In most cases, competitive exclusion driven by preemption of light or space is invoked as a key mechanism. Here, we provide evidence from a 9‐yr N‐addition experiment for an alternative mechanism: differential sensitivity of forbs and grasses to increased soil manganese (Mn) levels. In Inner Mongolia steppes, increasing the N supply shifted plant community composition from grass–forb codominance (primarily Stipa krylovii and Artemisia frigida, respectively) to exclusive dominance by grass, with associated declines in overall species richness. Reduced abundance of forbs was linked to soil acidification that increased mobilization of soil Mn, with a 10‐fold greater accumulation of Mn in forbs than in grasses. The enhanced accumulation of Mn in forbs was correlated with reduced photosynthetic rates and growth, and is consistent with the loss of forb species. Differential accumulation of Mn between forbs and grasses can be linked to fundamental differences between dicots and monocots in the biochemical pathways regulating metal transport. These findings provide a mechanistic explanation for N‐induced species loss in temperate grasslands by linking metal mobilization in soil to differential metal acquisition and impacts on key functional groups in these ecosystems.

Soybean (Glycine max) production is seriously threatened by ground-level ozone (O3) pollution. The goal of our study is to summarize the impacts of O3 on physiology, growth, yield, and quality of soybean, as well as root parameters. We performed meta-analysis on the collated 48 peer-reviewed papers published between 1980 and 2019 to quantitatively summarize the response of soybean to elevated O3 concentrations ([O3]). Relative to charcoal-filtered air (CF), elevated [O3] significantly accelerated chlorophyll degradation, enhanced foliar injury, and inhibited growth of soybean, evidenced by great reductions in leaf area (-20.8%), biomass of leaves (-13.8%), shoot (-22.8%), and root (-16.9%). Shoot of soybean was more sensitive to O3 than root in case of biomass. Chronic ozone exposure of about 75.5 ppb posed pronounced decrease in seed yield of soybean (-28.3%). In addition, root environment in pot contributes to higher reduction in shoot biomass and yield of soybean. Negative linear relationships were observed between yield loss and intensity of O3 treatment, AOT40. The larger loss in seed yield was significantly associated with higher reduction in shoot biomass and other yield component. This meta-analysis demonstrates the effects of elevated O3 on soybean were pronounced, suggesting that O3 pollution is still a soaring threat to the productivity of soybean in regions with high ozone levels.

To investigate the effects of ozone on winter wheat and flixweed under competition, two species were exposed to ambient, elevated and high [O3] for 30 days, planted singly or in mixculture. Eco-physiological responses were examined at different [O3] and fumigating time. Ozone reduced the contents of chlorophyll, increased the accumulation of H2O2 and malondialdehyde in both wheat and flixweed. The effects of competition on chlorophyll content of wheat emerged at elevated and high [O3], while that of flixweed emerged only at high [O3]. The increase of H2O2 and malondialdehyde of flixweed was less than that of wheat under the same condition. Antioxidant enzyme activities of wheat and flixweed were seriously depressed by perennial and serious treatment using O3. However, short-term and moderate fumigation increased the activities of SOD and POD of wheat, and CAT of flixweed. The expression levels of antioxidant enzymes related genes provided explanation for these results. Furthermore, the increase of CAT expression of flixweed was much higher than that of SOD and POD expression of wheat. Ozone and competition resulted in significant reductions in biomass and grain yield in both winter wheat and flixweed. However, the negative effects on flixweed were less than wheat. Our results demonstrated that winter wheat is more sensitive to O3 and competition than flixweed, providing valuable data for further investigation on responses of winter wheat to ozone pollution, in particular combined with species competition.