Effects of Nitrogen Supply on the Sensitivity to O3 of Growth and Photosynthesis of Japanese Beech (Fagus crenata) Seedlings

Abstract

To obtain basic information for evaluating critical levels of O 3 under different nitrogen loads for protecting Japanese beech forests, two-year-old seedlings of Fagus crenata Blume were grown in potted andisol supplied with N as NH 4 NO 3 solution at 0, 20 or 50 kg ha −1 year −1 and exposed to charcoal-filtered air or O 3 at 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 times the ambient concentration from 16 April to 22 September 2004. The O 3 induced significant reductions in the wholeplant dry mass, net photosynthetic rate at 380 μmol mol −1 CO 2 (A 380 ), carboxylation efficiency (CE) and concentrations of ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco) and total soluble protein (TSP) in the leaves. The concentrations of Rubisco and TSP were negatively correlated with the concentration of leaf acidic amino acid, suggesting that O 3 enhanced the degradation of protein such as Rubisco. The N supply to the soil did not significantly change the whole-plant dry mass and A 380 , whereas it significantly increased the CE and concentrations of Rubisco and total amino acid. No significant interactive effects of O 3 and N supply to the soil were detected on the growth, photosynthetic parameters and concentrations of protein and amino acid in the leaves. In conclusion, N supply to the soil at ≤50 kg ha −1 year −1 does not significantly change the sensitivity to O 3 of growth and net photosynthesis of Fagus crenata seedlings.

Effects of Ozone on the Growth and Photosynthesis of Castanopsis sieboldii Seedlings Grown under Different Nitrogen Loads

“…when the sensitivity of the net photosynthetic rate to O3 was increased by the N load, the negative impact of O3 on the whole-plant dry mass was increased (Watanabe et al,. 2007;Yamaguchi et al, 2007a;Yamaguchi et al, 2007b). In C. sieboldii seedlings, however, the sensitivity of the whole-plant dry mass to O3 did not necessarily correspond to that of the net photosynthetic rate to O3 (Tables 4 and 5).…”

Experimental Studies on the Effects of Ozone on Growth and Photosynthetic Activity of Japanese Forest Tree Species

“…It was also reported that the exposure to O 3 reduced the net photosynthetic rate of the leaves or needles of Japanese white birch, Japanese red pine, Japanese larch, Q. serrata and C. sieboldii (Watanabe et al, 2008(Watanabe et al, , 2007(Watanabe et al, , 2006Nakaji et al, 2004;Nakaji and Izuta, 2001;Matsumura et al, 1998). When net photosynthetic rate was reduced by the exposure to O 3 , simultaneous reductions in the carboxylation efficiency (CE), CO 2 -saturated net photosynthetic rate (A max ) and/or maximum quantum yield of photosystem (PS) II (F v /F m ), and increase in the stomatal diffusive conductance to water vapor (g s ) in the leaves or needles of Japanese forest tree species were also observed (Yamaguchi et al, 2007a;Watanabe et al, 2005;Nakaji and Izuta, 70 Asian Journal of Atmospheric Environment, Vol. 5(2), 65-78, 2011 2001; Yonekura et al, 2001a, b;Matsumura et al, 1998Matsumura et al, , 1996Izuta et al, 1996).…”

Retranslocation of foliar nutrients of deciduous tree seedlings in different soil condition under free-air O3 enrichment

“…Regarding the higher Al(RE) observed under eO3 in beech, the possible explanation is similar to that discussed above for birch. However, the O3-induced reduction of Al concentration in older leaves of beech (Hoshika et al 2013b, Yamaguchi et al 2007) may not be adequately counterbalanced by the increase in foliar Al during leaf senescence in plants growing on acidic soils (Gjengedal 1996), and this may explain the increase of (Al)RE in the treatment EV observed in this study (Tab. 2).…”

“…This is especially important for plants grown in poor fertility soils like S soil in this study. Yamaguchi et al (2007) reported that the sensitivity of growth and photosynthetic parameters to O3 in beech became high at higher concentrations of N in the soil. Moreover, Hoshika et al (2013b) concluded that late leaves in birch were more susceptible to O3 stress.…”

“…3) may be due to the effect of interactions between O3 and soil. Nevertheless, the declined NURE caused by eO3 may be aggravated by the relative high N in soil and finally results in the low NURE values (Yamaguchi et al 2007). …”