Response of giant sequoia canopy foliage to elevated concentrations of atmospheric ozone

Abstract

We examined the physiological response of foliage in the upper third of the canopy of 125-year-old giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum Buchholz.) trees to a 61-day exposure to 0.25×, 1×, 2× or 3× ambient ozone concentration. Four branch exposure chambers, one per ozone treatment, were installed on 1-m long secondary branches of each tree at a height of 34 m. No visible symptoms of foliar ozone damage were apparent throughout the 61-day exposure period and none of the ozone treatments affected branch growth. Despite the similarity in ozone concentrations in the branch chambers within a treatment, the trees exhibited different physiological responses to increasing ozone uptake. Differences in diurnal and seasonal patterns of gs among the trees led to a 2-fold greater ozone uptake in tree No. 2 compared with trees Nos. 1 and 3. Tree No. 3 had significantly higher CER and gs at 0.25× ambient ozone than trees Nos. 1 and 2, and gs and CER of tree No. 3 declined with increasing ozone uptake. The y-intercept of the regression for dark respiration versus ozone uptake was significantly lower for tree No. 2 than for trees Nos. 1 and 3. In the 0.25× and 1× ozone treatments, the chlorophyll concentration of current-year foliage of trees Nos. 1 and 2 was significantly higher than that of current-year foliage of tree No. 3. Chlorophyll concentration of current-year foliage on tree No. 1 did not decline with increasing ozone uptake. In all trees, total needle water potential decreased with increasing ozone uptake, but turgor was constant. Although tree No. 2 had the greatest ozone uptake, gs was highest and foliar chlorophyll concentration was lowest in tree No. 3 in the 0.25× and 1× ambient atmospheric ozone treatments.