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ASSESSING OZONE EFFECTS ON PLANTS NATIVE TO THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES
Citation:
Neufield, H., J. Renfro, S. Huang, W. Hacker, D. Mangis, A. Chappelka, W. Hogsett, A. Herstrom, J. Laurence, E. Lee, J. Wever, AND D. Tingey. ASSESSING OZONE EFFECTS ON PLANTS NATIVE TO THE SOUTHEASTERN UNITED STATES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-94/073 (NTIS PB94174208), 1993.
Description:
For the last six years, the U.S. National Park Service, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and University researchers have been documenting the effects of ozone on a large number of woody and herbaceous species native to the southeastern United States. n Great Smoky Mountains National Park (GRSM), ozone levels exhibit diel patterns at low elevations, where concentrations are low in the morning and high in the afternoon. t high elevations (>800 m) morning concentrations are much higher, and the total daily exposure is approximately twice that at the lower elevations. utative ozone injury has been observed in the field in GRSM on 90 species, representing approximately 6% of the known flora in the Park. urveys of foliar injury on several tree species show a general pattern of increasing frequency and amount of stipple with increasing elevation in GRSM, and in nearby Shenandoah National Park. xposure-response studies were carried out in opentop chambers for six years with 46 species. oliar symptoms seen in the field, were reproduced on 30 species, providing evidence that the foliar injury found in the field was probably due to ozone exposure. he exposure-response studies indicated that early-successional and shade intolerant species were less resistant to high ozone levels than late-successional species and dry-site adapted conifers. eographic information systems (GIS) techniques, coupled with growth models, were used to scale-up responses from the seedling to the geographic level. ecause the modeling work is totally dependent on the quality of the exposure-response data, future work must concentrate on more realistic exposure systems, genetic variation within species, and refinement of the modeling procedures used in scaling up.
