Abstract
Static electric fields in the atmosphere are increasingly recognized as interacting with various organisms over several levels of biological organization. Recently, a link between atmospheric electrical variations and biogeochemical processes has been established in the context of open fields, yet biological structures like trees produce substantial alterations in atmospheric electric properties. Here, we assess whether these structural changes affect the dynamics of the electrical landscape and its relation to geochemical processes. To this end, we theoretically assess how trees alter their surrounding electric fields and empirically compare the temporal dynamics of atmospheric potential gradients, positive ions in the near-ground level atmosphere and soil electrochemical properties in an open field and under a tree. The developed model of electric fields around trees provides insight into the extent to which trees shield the underlying electric landscape, revealing that a substantial increase in atmospheric potential gradient only marginally affects the electric field under the canopy. We further show that soil electrochemical properties are tied to the temporal dynamics of positive ion in the near-ground level atmosphere, and that the presence of a tree reduces the temporal variability in both ground level positive ion concentrations and soil redox potential. This suggests that a tree can alter the temporal variability in atmospheric electricity and soil electro-chemistry, thereby likely indirectly influencing soil microorganisms and processes as well as electro-sensitive organisms that perceive and utilize atmospheric electric fields.
Highlights
The ground level atmosphere is host to various distributions of electrical charges and associated static electric fields (Rycroft et al, 2008) and it becomes increasingly apparent that electrostatic interactions form the basis of the electric ecology of various organisms over several levels of biological organization (Clarke et al, 2013; Greggers et al, 2013; Morley and Robert, 2018; Hunting et al, 2021)
Since modelling approaches with two-dimensional geometries published to date are potentially prone to exaggerating the electrical shielding effect of most structures, we modelled a three-dimensional geometry to assess the effect of a tree on local atmospheric electric fields
A horizontal transect taken through the model (Figure 2B) shows that for a large tree in an open field, this shielding effect persists beyond the immediate vicinity of the tree, with the electric field strength continuing to be reduced in excess of 100 m away from the trunk in comparison to no tree being present
Summary
The ground level atmosphere is host to various distributions of electrical charges and associated static electric fields (Rycroft et al, 2008) and it becomes increasingly apparent that electrostatic interactions form the basis of the electric ecology of various organisms over several levels of biological organization (e.g., molecules, cells, organisms, communities) (Clarke et al, 2013; Greggers et al, 2013; Morley and Robert, 2018; Hunting et al, 2021). There is a build-up of mainly positive ions near the surface of the ground (Adkins, 1959; Crozier, 1965; Reiter, 1985) that results from a complex interplay of soil radon exhalation and decay, the charging of aerosols and atmospheric pollution (Kubicki et al, 2016). Tree Canopy Shielding Influences Variability part of the global electric circuit (Wilson, 1903; Rycroft et al, 2008; Fdez-Arroyabe et al, 2021) This results in diel and seasonal variations in atmospheric potential gradients that, sometimes measureable over continental soils, are far more prevalent in clean oceanic air. Atmospheric charge distributions and associated electrical fields and charge flow operate at local and global spatial scales and various temporal (hours to seasons) scales
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