Virpi Palomäki , Toini Holopainen, Seppo Kellomäki, Kaisa Laitinen

First-year results on the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 and O3 concentrations on needle ultrastructure and gas exchange responses of Scots pine saplings.

Palomäki V., Holopainen T., Kellomäki S., Laitinen K. (1996). First-year results on the effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 and O3 concentrations on needle ultrastructure and gas exchange responses of Scots pine saplings. Silva Fennica vol. 30 no. 2–3 article id 5580. https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a9225

Abstract

The effects of realistically elevated O₃ and CO₂ concentrations on the needle ultrastructure and photosynthesis of ca. 20-year-old Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) saplings were studied during one growth period in open-top field chambers situated on a natural pine heath at Mekrijärvi, in eastern Finland. The experiment included six different treatments: chamberless control, filtered air, ambient air and elevated O₃, CO₂ and O₃ + CO₂. Significant increases in the size of chloroplast and starch grains were recorded in the current-year needles of the saplings exposed to elevated CO₂ These responses were especially clear in the saplings exposed to elevated O₃ + CO₂ concentrations. These treatments also delayed the winter hardening process in cells. In the shoots treated with O₃, CO₂ and combined O₃ + CO₂ the P_max was decreased on average by 50% (ambient CO₂) and 40% (700 ppm CO₂). Photosynthetic efficiency was decreased by 60% in all the treated shoots measured under ambient condition and by 30% in the CO₂ and O₃ + CO₂ treated shoots under 700 ppm. The effect of all the treatments on photosynthesis was depressive which was probably related to evident accumulation of starch in the chloroplasts of the pines treated with CO₂ and combined O₃ + CO₂. But in O₃ treated pines, which did not accumulate starch in comparison to pines subjected to ambient air conditions, some injuries may be already present in the photosynthetic machinery.

Keywords
Pinus sylvestris; climate change; Scots pine; CO2; ozone; needle ultrastructure; gas exhange

Published in 1996

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Available at https://doi.org/10.14214/sf.a9225 | Download PDF