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COLLABORATIVE EFFORT TO MODEL PLANT RESPONSE TO ACIDIC RAIN
Citation:
Jacobsen, J., P. Irving, A. Kuja, D. Shriner, S. Perrigan, AND V. Cullinan. COLLABORATIVE EFFORT TO MODEL PLANT RESPONSE TO ACIDIC RAIN. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/J-88/514 (NTIS PB90242322).
Description:
Radish plants were exposed three times per week to simulated acidic rain at pH values of 2.6 to 5.4 over the course of four weeks in trials performed at Argonne, IL; Ithaca & Upton, NY; Corvallis, OR; Oak Ridge, TN; and Toronto, Canada. niform genotype, soil media and planting techniques, treatment procedures, biological measurements, and experimental design were employed. Growth of plants differed among trials as a result of variation in greenhouse environmental conditions according to location and facilities. arger plants underwent greater absolute but lower relative reduction in biomass after exposure to the high levels of acidity. eneralized Mitscherlich function was used to model the effects of acidity of simulated rain or dry mass of hypocotyls using data from three laboratories that performed only one trial each, were used to test the model. hen the laboratory by trial effect was removed (influence of different growth conditions), lack of fit to the Mitscherlich function was insignificant. hus, a single mathematical model satisfactorily characterized the relationship between acidity and mean plant response. he Ph value associated with a 10 percent reduction in mass was 3.3+ 0.3 for hypocotyls. o value was estimated for shoots because effects on shoots were not significant. The results of this study demonstrate that a generalized exposure-response model can be developed in the presence of large variations in environmental conditions when plant culture and exposure to simulated rain are standardized among laboratories.