Abstract. Ammonia exchange fluxes between grassland and the atmosphere were modelled on the basis of stomatal compensation points and leaf surface chemistry, and compared with measured fluxes during the GRAMINAE intensive measurement campaign in spring 2000 near Braunschweig, Germany. Leaf wetness and dew chemistry in grassland were measured together with ammonia fluxes and apoplastic NH + 4 and H + concentration, and the data were used to apply, validate and further develop an existing model of leaf surface chemistry and ammonia exchange. Foliar leaf wetness which is known to affect ammonia fluxes may be persistent after the end of rainfall, or sustained by recondensation of water vapour originating from the ground or leaf transpiration, so measured leaf wetness values were included in the model. pH and ammonium concentrations of dew samples collected from grass were compared to modelled values.The measurement period was divided into three phases: a relatively wet phase followed by a dry phase in the first week before the grass was cut, and a second drier week after the cut. While the first two phases were mainly characterised by ammonia deposition and occasional short emission events, regular events of strong ammonia emissions were observed during the post-cut period. A single-layer resistance model including dynamic cuticular and stomatal exchange could describe the fluxes well before the cut, but after the cut the stomatal compensation points needed to numerically match Correspondence to: J. Burkhardt (j.burkhardt@uni-bonn.de) measured fluxes were much higher than the ones measured by bioassays, suggesting another source of ammonia fluxes. Considerably better agreement both in the direction and the size range of fluxes were obtained when a second layer was introduced into the model, to account for the large additional ammonia source inherent in the leaf litter at the bottom of the grass canopy. Therefore, this was found to be a useful extension of the mechanistic dynamic chemistry model by keeping the advantage of requiring relatively little site-specific information.

AcKNowlEdGEMENTSM. Schulz thanks the University of Bonn and the Faculty of Agronomy for financial support (PRIOR, project A1). We thank Prof. Schellander and his coworkers for support with the ABI Prism 7000 SDS instrument equipment. ABSTrAcTExposure to the allelopathic monoterpenes camphor (100 mg/10 L) and menthol (50 mg/10 L) for 24 h enhanced transpiration of Arabidopsis thaliana fully developed rosette leaves similar to de-waxing. As ascertained by ESEM analyses the leaf surfaces were spotted with platelet like structures which seem to be partly mixed with the lipophilic epicuticular layers. The structures are supposed to contain the condensed monoterpenes, which could be identified by GC. Long term exposure (more than 48 h) to 100 mg/ 50 mg killed the plants by desiccation, a 24 h exposure caused necrotic spots that became visible one to two days after the treatment. Examinations of the stomatal apertures indicated that monoterpenes induced stomatal opening followed by extreme swelling and a final break down of the protoplasts. Exposure of Arabidopsis thaliana to volatiles of Mentha piperita, Lavandula latifolia and Artemisia camphorata resulted in a dramatic increase of the stomata aperture but swelling of the protoplasts was less exhibited.In contrast to de-waxing, expression of the fatty acid condensing enzyme encoding CER6 gene and de novo synthesis of CER6 protein was not induced after 24 h of exposure to the monoterpenes.The aim of the study was to demonstrate that the lipophilic layers of the leaf surface and the stomata are primary targets of monoterpene allelopathic attack. Enhanced transpiration results from a combination of affected lipophilic wax layers and a disturbed stomata function.

Abstract. Ammonia exchange fluxes between grassland and the atmosphere were modeled on the basis of stomatal compensation points and leaf surface chemistry, and compared with measured fluxes during the GRAMINAE intensive measurement campaign in spring 2000 near Braunschweig, Germany. Leaf wetness and dew chemistry in grassland were measured together with ammonia fluxes and apoplastic NH4+ and H+ concentration, and the data were used to apply, validate and further develop an existing model of leaf surface chemistry and ammonia exchange. The leaf surface water storage was calculated from measured leaf wetness data using an exponential parameterisation. The measurement period was divided into three phases: a relatively wet phase followed by a dry phase in the first week before the grass was cut, and a second drier week after the cut. While the first two phases were mainly characterised by ammonia deposition and occasional short emission events, regular events of strong ammonia emissions were observed during the post-cut period. A single-layer resistance model including dynamic cuticular and stomatal exchange could describe the fluxes well before and after the cut, but unrealistically high stomatal compensation points were needed after the cut in order to match measured fluxes. Significant improvements were obtained when a second layer was introduced into the model, to account for the large additional ammonia source inherent in the leaf litter at the bottom of the grass canopy.