A global model of natural volatile organic compound emissions

BVOCs: plant defense against climate warming?

“…These rates can represent a significant proportion of the carbon fixed by a plant: up to 8 -10%, or even more under stressful conditions [21]. The global annual emission rate is estimated to be , 10 15 g BVOCs y 21 (Table 1), which constitutes , 80% of the chemically reactive VOCs added to the atmosphere each year (the rest are anthropogenic) [22]. By applying the algorithms of emission response to temperature [18,21], we have roughly calculated that the global warming over the past 30 years [23,24] could have increased the BVOC global emissions by , 10%, and a further 2 -3 8C rise in the mean global temperature, which is predicted to occur this century [24], could increase BVOC global emissions by an additional 30 -45%.…”

“…The amount currently emitted is equivalent to the sum of biogenic and anthropogenic methane emissions [22]. These BVOC emissions represent a significant plant carbon loss on an ecosystem basis and on a global basis.…”

“…These BVOCs represent a large carbon loss and can be up to ,10% of that fixed by photosynthesis under stressful conditions and up to 100 g C m 22 per year in some tropical ecosystems. Among a variety of proven and unproven BVOC functions in plants and roles in atmospheric processes, recent data intriguingly link emission of these compounds to climate.…”

Evident elevation of atmospheric monoterpenes due to degradation-induced species changes in a semi-arid grassland

“…Some plants emit substantial biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs), which may significantly impact air quality and biosphere structure/function (Fuentes et al, 2001;Guenther et al, 1995;Lerdau, 2007;Peñuelas, 2008;Peñuelas and Llusià, 2003;Peñuelas and Staudt, 2010;Shallcross and Monks, 2000). It is well known that BVOCs are important for plants in defense against abiotic and biotic stresses (Frost et al, 2008;Peñuelas and Llusià, 2003).…”

“…Generally, the dominant herbaceous species in non-degraded grassland emit low BVOCs . However, grassland is undergoing significant changes due to climate change and anthropogenic disturbance (Guenther et al, 1995;Lerdau and Slobodkin, 2002). Currently degradation is the most severe ecological problem in the Eurasian grassland -one of the largest contiguous terrestrial biomes (Werger and van Staalduinen, 2012).…”