Factors affecting stomatal uptake of ozone by different canopies and a comparison between dose and exposure

Abstract

Measured ozone (O3) and carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations and fluxes over five different canopies (mixed coniferous–deciduous forest, deciduous forest, corn, soybean and pasture) in the eastern USA were analyzed to investigate the stomatal uptake of O3. It was found that the ambient O3 concentration levels had little effect on stomatal conductance. However, the accumulated stomatal uptake of O3, upon reaching a threshold value on any given day, appears to reduce the rate of further O3 uptake substantially. This may explain why the maximum O3 deposition velocity often appeared in the early morning hours over some forest canopies. Substantially reduced CO2 fluxes over wet canopies compared to dry canopies suggest that stomata were likely partially or totally blocked by water droplets or films when canopies were wet.By using a big-leaf dry deposition model, measured O3 fluxes were separated into stomatal and non-stomatal portions. It was estimated that stomatal uptake contributed 55–75% of the total daytime O3 fluxes and 40–60% of the total daytime plus nighttime fluxes, depending on canopy type. This suggests that about half of the total O3 flux occurred through the non-stomatal pathway. At three locations (deciduous forest, corn and soybean sites), O3 concentrations of 30–60 ppb and of 60–85 ppb contributed equally to the accumulated stomatal fluxes, while at the other two locations (mixed coniferous–deciduous forest and pasture sites), concentrations of 30–60 ppb contributed twice as much as those from 60 to 85 ppb.