Limitations and perspectives about scaling ozone impacts in trees

Abstract

We review the need for scaling effects of ozone (O 3 ) from juvenile to mature forest trees, identify the knowledge presently available, and discuss limitations in scaling efforts. Recent findings on O 3 /soil nutrient and O 3 /CO 2 interactions from controlled experiments suggest consistent scaling patterns for physiological responses of individual leaves to whole-plant growth, carbon allocation, and water use efficiency of juvenile trees. These findings on juvenile trees are used to develop hypotheses that are relevant to scaling O 3 effects to mature trees, and these hypotheses are examined with respect to existing research on differences in response to O 3 between juvenile and mature trees. Scaling patterns of leaf-level physiological response to O 3 have not been consistent in previous comparisons between juvenile and mature trees. We review and synthesize current understanding of factors that may cause such inconsistent scaling patterns, including tree-size related changes in environment, stomatal conductance, O 3 uptake and exposure, carbon allocation to defense, repair, and compensation mechanisms, and leaf production phenology. These factors should be considered in efforts to scale O 3 responses during tree ontogeny. Free-air O 3 fumigation experiments of forest canopies allow direct assessments of O 3 impacts on physiological processes of mature trees, and provide the opportunity to test current hypotheses about ontogenetic variation in O 3 sensitivity by comparing O 3 responses across tree-internal scales and ontogeny.