Skip Navigation



JXB Advance Access published online on December 5, 2006
Journal of Experimental Botany, doi:10.1093/jxb/erl222
This Article
Right arrow Full Text Freely available
Right arrow FREE Full Text (PDF) Freely available
Right arrow All Versions of this Article:
58/4/785    most recent
erl222v1
Right arrow E-letters: Submit a response
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me when E-letters are posted
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Email this article to a friend
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Add to My Personal Archive
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowRequest Permissions
Right arrow Disclaimer
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Gielen, B.
Right arrow Articles by Ceulemans, R.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Gielen, B.
Right arrow Articles by Ceulemans, R.
Agricola
Right arrow Articles by Gielen, B.
Right arrow Articles by Ceulemans, R.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us  
What's this?

© The Author [2006]. Published by Oxford University Press [on behalf of the Society for Experimental Biology]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Imaging Stress Responses in Plants Special Issue

Chronic ozone exposure affects leaf senescence of adult beech trees: a chlorophyll fluorescence approach

Birgit Gielen1,*, Markus Löw2, Gaby Deckmyn1, Ursula Metzger2, Fabrice Franck3, Christian Heerdt4, Rainer Matyssek2, Roland Valcke5 and Reinhart Ceulemans1

1University of Antwerpen, Campus Drie Eiken, Department of Biology, Research Group of Plant and Vegetation Ecology, Universiteitsplein 1, B-2610 Wilrijk, Belgium
2Technische Universität München, Ecophysiology of Plants, Am Hochanger 13, D-85354 Freising, Germany
3Université de Liège, Département des sciences de la vie/Biochimie végétale, BAT. B22 Photobiologie, Boulevard du Rectorat, 27, B-4000 Liège, Belgium
4Technische Universität München, Lehrstuhl für Ökoklimatologie, Am Hochanger 13, D-85354 Freising, Germany
5Hasselt University, Centre for Environmental Sciences, Dept. SBG, Laboratory of Molecular and Physical Plant Physiology, Agoralaan, Bldg D, B-3590 Diepenbeek, Belgium

* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: birgit.gielen{at}ua.ac.be

Accelerated leaf senescence is one of the harmful effects of elevated tropospheric ozone concentrations ([O3]) on plants. The number of studies dealing with mature forest trees is scarce however. Therefore, five 66-year-old beech trees (Fagus sylvatica L.) have been exposed to twice-ambient (2xambient) [O3] levels by means of a free-air canopy O3 exposure system. During the sixth year of exposure, the hypothesis of accelerated leaf senescence in 2xambient [O3] compared with ambient [O3] trees was tested for both sun and shade leaves. Chlorophyll (chl) fluorescence was used to assess the photosynthetic quantum yield, and chl fluorescence images were processed to compare functional leaf homogeneity and the proportion of O3-injured leaf area (stipples) under ambient and 2xambient [O3] regimes. Based on the analysis of chl fluorescence images, sun leaves of both ambient and 2xambient [O3] trees had apparently developed typical necrotic O3 stipples during high O3 episodes in summer, while accelerated senescence was only observed with sun leaves of 2xambient [O3] trees. This latter effect was indicated along with a faster decrease of photosynthetic quantum yield, but without evidence of changes in non-photochemical quenching. Overall, treatment effects were small and varied among trees. Therefore, compared with ambient [O3], the consequence of the observed O3-induced accelerated leaf senescence for the carbon budget is likely limited.

Key words: Chlorophyll fluorescence imaging, cumulative ozone uptake, Fagus sylvatica, free-air exposure, image analysis, quantum yield of photosystem II, tropospheric ozone


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us    What's this?




Disclaimer: Please note that abstracts for content published before 1996 were created through digital scanning and may therefore not exactly replicate the text of the original print issues. All efforts have been made to ensure accuracy, but the Publisher will not be held responsible for any remaining inaccuracies. If you require any further clarification, please contact our Customer Services Department.