Quantifying ozone uptake at the canopy level of spruce, pine and larch trees at the alpine timberline: an approach based on sap flow measurement

Abstract

Micro-climatic and ambient ozone data were combined with measurements of sap flow through tree trunks in order to estimate whole-tree ozone uptake of adult Norway spruce ( Picea abies), cembran pine ( Pinus cembra), and European larch ( Larix decidua) trees. Sap flow was monitored by means of the heat balance approach in two trees of each species during the growing season of 1998. In trees making up the stand canopy, the ozone uptake by evergreen foliages was significantly higher than by deciduous ones, when scaled to the ground area. However, if expressed per unit of whole-tree foliage area, ozone flux through the stomata into the needle mesophyll was 1.09, 1.18 and 1.40 nmol m −2 s −1 in Picea abies, Pinus cembra and Larix decidua, respectively. These fluxes are consistent with findings from measurements of needle gas exchange, published from the same species at the study site. It is concluded that the sap flow-based approach offers an inexpensive, spatially and temporally integrating way for estimating ozone uptake at the whole-tree and stand level, intrinsicly covering the effect of boundary layers on ozone flux.