No abstract

Whereas for extra-tropical regions model estimates of the emission of volatile organic compounds (VOC) predict strong responses to the strong annual cycles of foliar biomass, light intensity and temperature, the tropical regions stand out as a dominant source year round, with only little variability mainly due to the annual cycle of foliar biomass of drought-deciduous trees. As part of the Large Scale Biosphere Atmosphere Experiment in Amazônia (LBA-EUSTACH), a remote secondary tropical forest site was visited in the dry-to-wet season transition campaign, and the trace gas exchange of a strong isoprene emitter and a monoterpene emitter are compared to the wet-to-dry season transition investigations reported earlier. Strong seasonal differences of the emission capacity were observed. The standard emission factor for isoprene emission of young mature leaves of Hymenaea courbaril was about twofold in the end of the dry season (111.5 lgC g À1 h À1 or 41.2 nmol m À2 s À1 ) compared to old mature leaves investigated in the end of the wet season (45.4 lgC g À1 h À1 or 24.9 nmol m À2 s À1 ). Standardized monoterpene emission rate of Apeiba tibourbou were 2.1 and 3.6 lgC g À1 h À1 (or 0.3 and 0.8 nmol m À2 s -1 ), respectively. This change in species-specific VOC emission capacity was mirrored by a concurrent change in the ambient mixing ratios. The growth conditions vary less in tropical areas than in temperate regions of the world, and the seasonal differences in emission strength could not be reconciled solely with meteorological data of instantaneous light intensity and temperature. Hence the inadequacy of using a single standard emission factor to represent an entire seasonal cycle is apparent. Among a host of other potential factors, including the leaf developmental stage, water and nutrient status, and abiotic stresses like the oxidative capacity of the ambient air, predominantly the long-term growth temperature may be applied to predict the seasonal variability of the isoprene emission capacity. The dry season isoprene emission rates of H. courbaril measured at the canopy top were also compared to isoprene emissions of the shade-adapted species Sorocea guilleminiana growing in the understory. Despite the difference in VOC emission composition and canopy position, one common algorithm was able to predict the diel emission pattern of all three tree species.

[1] We measured atmospheric gas-phase volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at the end of the wet and end of the dry season at a tropical rainforest site in Rondônia, Brazil, using various sampling techniques such as trapping on different adsorbents or cryogenic trapping combined with appropriate analysis techniques. The measuring sites were located inside the forest of a biological reserve near Ji-Paraná. Sampling was performed from 3 May 1999 to 17 May 1999 and from 24 September 1999 to 2 November 1999 during the ''wet-to-dry season transition'' and ''dry-to-wet season transition'' periods in Rondônia, respectively. Samples were obtained at the canopy top close to the potential sources/sinks for these compounds as well as above the forest. We report the measured concentrations of a large number of different VOCs and their oxidation products, such as isoprenoids, organic acids, carbonyls, aromatics, and alcohols. The most prominent VOCs present in air over the last part of the wet season were isoprene, formaldehyde, and formic acid, with mixing ratios of each ranging up to several parts per billion (ppb). Methyl vinyl ketone as well as methacrolein, both oxidation products of isoprene, ranged around 1 ppb. The sum of the measured monoterpene concentrations was below 1 ppb. At the end of the dry season, the amount of C 1 -C 2 organic acids and C 1 -C 2 aldehydes increased significantly up to 17 and 25 ppb, respectively, which is thought to result significantly from vegetation fire emissions. High methanol concentrations also support this scenario. At the same time, however, atmospheric mixing ratios of biogenic compounds such as isoprene increased up to 30 ppb near the crown region and well above 10 ppb at 10-20 m over the forest, whereas monoterpene species seem to decrease. We discuss seasonal development of the vegetation and climatological factors to be responsible for such concentration pattern. The results give an impression about the variability and concentration of VOCs during the different seasons.