Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE AND POLLUTION RESEARCH
Volume 25, Issue 9, Pages 8161-8173Publisher
SPRINGER HEIDELBERG
DOI: 10.1007/s11356-017-9316-7
Keywords
Climate change; Drought; Oxidative stress; Physiological adjustments; Quercus ilex; Quercus pubescens; Tropospheric ozone; Urban greening
Categories
Funding
- MIUR, Rome
- University of Pisa
- PRIN project
Ask authors/readers for more resources
The predicted effects of global change (GC) will be exacerbated in the more densely populated cities of the future, especially in the Mediterranean basin where some environmental cues, such as drought and tropospheric ozone (O-3) pollution, already mine seriously plant survival. Physiological and biochemical responses of a Mediterranean, evergreen, isohydric plant species (Quercus ilex) were compared to those of a sympatric, deciduous, anisohydric species (Q. pubescens) under severe drought (20% of the effective daily evapotranspiration) and/or chronic O-3 exposure (80 ppb for 5 h day(-1) for 28 consecutive days) to test which one was more successful in those highly limiting conditions. Results show that (i) the lower reduction of total leaf biomass of Q. ilex as compared to Q. pubescens when subjected to drought and drought x O-3 (on average -59 vs -70%, respectively); (ii) the steeper decline of photosynthesis found in Q. pubescens under drought (-87 vs -81%) and drought x O-3 (-69 vs -59%, respectively); (iii) the increments of malondialdehyde (MDA) by-products found only in drought-stressed Q. pubescens; (iv) the impact of O-3, found only in Q. pubescens leaves and MDA, can be considered the best probes of the superiority of Q. ilex to counteract the effect of mild-severe drought and O-3 stress. Also, an antagonistic effect was found when drought and O-3 were applied simultaneously, as usually happens during typical Mediterranean summers. Our dataset suggests that on future, the urban greening should be wisely pondered on the ability of trees to cope the most impacting factors of GC, and in particular their simultaneity.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available