Doubled volatile organic compound emissions from subarctic tundra under simulated climate warming.
*Biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions from arctic ecosystems are important in view of their role in global atmospheric chemistry and unknown feedbacks to global warming. These cold ecosystems are hotspots of climate warming, which will be more severe here than averaged over the globe. We assess the effects of climatic warming on non-methane BVOC emissions from a subarctic heath. *We performed ecosystem-based chamber measurements and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses of the BVOCs collected on adsorbent over two growing seasons at a wet subarctic tundra heath hosting a long-term warming and mountain birch (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) litter addition experiment. *The relatively low emissions of monoterpenes and sesquiterpenes were doubled in response to an air temperature increment of only 1.9-2.5 degrees C, while litter addition had a minor influence. BVOC emissions were seasonal, and warming combined with litter addition triggered emissions of specific compounds. *The unexpectedly high rate of release of BVOCs measured in this conservative warming scenario is far above the estimates produced by the current models, which underlines the importance of a focus on BVOC emissions during climate change. The observed changes have implications for ecological interactions and feedback effects on climate change via impacts on aerosol formation and indirect greenhouse effects.
Faubert
Patrick
P
Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Tiiva
Päivi
P
Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Rinnan
Åsmund
Å
Quality & Technology, Department of Food Science, Faculty of Life Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Rolighedsvej 30, DK-1958 Frederiksberg C, Denmark.
Michelsen
Anders
A
Terrestrial Ecology Section, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 2D, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
Holopainen
Jarmo K
JK
Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.
Rinnan
Riikka
R
Department of Environmental Science, University of Eastern Finland, PO Box 1627, FI-70211 Kuopio, Finland.|Terrestrial Ecology Section, Department of Biology, Faculty of Science, University of Copenhagen, Øster Farimagsgade 2D, DK-1353 Copenhagen K, Denmark.
D001110:Arctic Regions; D002980:Climate; D003198:Computer Simulation; D017753:Ecosystem; D057232:Global Warming; D039821:Monoterpenes / Q000032:analysis; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D010944:Plants / Q000737:chemistry*; D025341:Principal Component Analysis; D012621:Seasons; D012717:Sesquiterpenes / Q000032:analysis; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds / Q000032:analysis*
D039821:Monoterpenes; D012717:Sesquiterpenes; D055549:Volatile Organic Compounds
ACIA. 2005. Arctic climate impact assessment. New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Arneth A, Monson RK, Schurgers G, Niinemets Ü, Palmer PI. 2008. Why are estimates of global isoprene emissions so similar (and why is this not so for monoterpenes)? Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 8: 4605-4620.
Bäckstrand K, Crill PM, Mastepanov M, Christensen TR, Bastviken D. 2008. Non-methane volatile organic compound flux from a subarctic mire in Northern Sweden. Tellus Series B-Chemical and Physical Meteorology 60B: 226-237.
Beckmann M, Lloyd D. 2001. Extraction and identification of volatile organic substances (VOS) from Scottish peat cores. Atmospheric Environment 35: 79-86.
Bliss LC, Matveyeva NV. 1992. Circumpolar arctic vegetation. In: Chapin FS III, Jefferies RL, Reynolds JF, Shaver GR, Svoboda J, eds. Arctic ecosystems in a changing climate, an ecophysiological perspective. San Diego, CA, USA: Academic Press, 59-90.
Bylund H, Nordell O. 2001. Biomass proportions, production and leaf nitrogen distribution in a polycormic mountain birch stand (Betula pubescens ssp. czerepanovii) in northern Sweden. In: Wiegolaski FE, ed. Nordic mountain birch ecosystems. Paris, France: UNESCO, 115-126.
Callaghan TV, Björn LO, Chernov Y, Chapin T, Christensen TR, Huntley B, Ims RA, Johansson M, Jolly D, Jonasson S et al. 2004. Responses to projected changes in climate and UV-B at the species level. Ambio 33: 418-435.
Cornelissen JHC, van Bodegom PM, Aerts R, Callaghan TV, van Logtestijn RSP, Alatalo J, Chapin FS, Gerdol R, Gudmundsson J, Gwynn-Jones D et al. 2007. Global negative vegetation feedback to climate warming responses of leaf litter decomposition rates in cold biomes. Ecology Letters 10: 619-627.
Dicke M. 2009. Behavioural and community ecology of plants that cry for help. Plant, Cell & Environment 32: 654-665.
Duhl TR, Helmig D, Guenther A. 2008. Sesquiterpene emissions from vegetation: a review. Biogeosciences 5: 761-777.
Guenther A, Hewitt CN, Erickson D, Fall R, Geron C, Graedel T, Harley P, Klinger L, Lerdau M, McKay WA et al. 1995. A global model of natural volatile organic compound emissions. Journal of Geophysical Research 100: 8873-8892.
Guenther AB, Zimmerman PR, Harley PC, Monson RK, Fall R. 1993. Isoprene and monoterpene emission rate variability: model evaluations and sensitivity analyses. Journal of Geophysical Research 98: 12609-12617.
Hakola H, Laurila T, Lindfors V, Hellén H, Gaman A, Rinne J. 2001. Variation of the VOC emission rates of birch species during the growing season. Boreal Environment Research 6: 237-249.
Hakola H, Rinne J, Laurila T. 1998. The hydrocarbon emission rates of tea-leafed willow (Salix phylicifolia), silver birch (Betula pendula) and European aspen (Populus tremula). Atmospheric Environment 32: 1825-1833.
Hartikainen K, Nerg AM, Kivimäenpää M, Kontunen-Soppela S, Mäenpää M, Oksanen E, Rousi M, Holopainen T. 2009. Emissions of volatile organic compounds and leaf structural characteristics of European aspen (Populus tremula) grown under elevated ozone and temperature. Tree Physiology 29: 1163-1173.
Havström M, Callaghan TV, Jonasson S. 1993. Differential growth responses of Cassiope tetragona, an arctic dwarf shrub, to environmental perturbations among three contrasting high- and subarctic sites. Oikos 66: 389-402.
Helmig D, Ortega J, Duhl T, Tanner D, Guenther A, Harley P, Wiedinmyer C, Milford J, Sakulyanontvittaya T. 2007. Sesquiterpene emissions from pine trees - identifications, emission rates and flux estimates for the contiguous United States. Environmental Science & Technology 41: 1545-1553.
IPCC. 2007. Climate change 2007: The physical science basis. Contribution of working group I to the fourth assessment report of the intergovernmental panel on climate change. Cambridge, UK and New York, NY, USA: Cambridge University Press.
Isebrands JG, Guenther AB, Harley P, Helmig D, Klinger L, Vierling L, Zimmerman P, Geron C. 1999. Volatile organic compound emission rates from mixed deciduous and coniferous forests in Northern Wisconsin, USA. Atmospheric Environment 33: 2527-2536.
Isidorov V, Jdanova M. 2002. Volatile organic compounds from leaves litter. Chemosphere 48: 975-979.
Jelén HH. 2002. Volatile sesquiterpene hydrocarbons characteristic for Penicillium roqueforti strains producing PR toxin. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry 50: 6569-6574.
Jelén HH, Mirocha CJ, Wasowicz E, Kamiński E. 1995. Production of volatile sesquiterpenes by Fusarium sambucinum strains with different abilities to synthesize trichothecenes. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 61: 3815-3820.
Kiendler-Scharr A, Wildt J, Dal Maso M, Hohaus T, Kleist E, Mentel TF, Tillmann R, Uerlings R, Schurr U, Wahner A. 2009. New particle formation in forests inhibited by isoprene emissions. Nature 46: 381-384.
Klinger LF, Li Q-J, Guenther AB, Greenberg JP, Baker B, Bai J-H 2002. Assessment of volatile organic compound emissions from ecosystems of China. Journal of Geophysical Research 107: 4603, doi: 10.1029/2001JD001076.
Komppula M, Lihavainen H, Hatakka J, Paatero J, Aalto P, Kulmala M, Viisanen Y 2003. Observations of new particle formation and size distributions at two different heights and surroundings in subarctic area in northern Finland. Journal of Geophysical Research 108: 4295, doi: 10.1029/2002JD002939.
Laothawornkitkul J, Taylor JE, Paul ND, Hewitt CN. 2009. Biogenic volatile organic compounds in the Earth system. New Phytologist 183: 27-51.
Leff JW, Fierer N. 2008. Volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from soil and litter samples. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 40: 1629-1636.
Llusià J, Peñuelas J. 2000. Seasonal patterns of terpene content and emission from seven Mediterranean woody species in field conditions. American Journal of Botany 87: 133-140.
Loreto F, Förster A, Dürr M, Csiky O, Seufert G. 1998. On the monoterpene emission under heat stress and on the increased thermotolerance of leaves of Quercus ilex L. fumigated with selected monoterpenes. Plant, Cell & Environment 21: 101-107.
Mäntylä E, Alessio GA, Blande JD, Heijari J, Holopainen JK, Laaksonen T, Piirtola P, Klemola T 2008. From plants to birds: higher avian predation rates in trees responding to insect herbivory. PLoS ONE 3: e2832, doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0002832
Myneni RB, Keeling CD, Tucker CJ, Asrar G, Nemani RR. 1997. Increased plant growth in the northern high latitudes from 1981 to 1991. Nature 386: 698-702.
Niinemets Ü, Loreto F, Reichstein M. 2004. Physiological and physicochemical controls on foliar volatile organic compound emissions. Trends in Plant Science 9: 180-186.
Ortega J, Helmig D. 2008. Approaches for quantifying reactive and low-volatility biogenic organic compound emissions by vegetation enclosure techniques - Part A. Chemosphere 72: 343-364.
Paavolainen L, Kitunen V, Smolander A. 1998. Inhibition of nitrification in forest soil by monoterpenes. Plant and Soil 205: 147-154.
Peñuelas J. 2008. An increasingly scented world. New Phytologist 180: 735-738.
Peñuelas J, Llusià J. 2002. Linking photorespiration, monoterpenes and thermotolerance in Quercus. New Phytologist 155: 227-237.
Pétron G, Harley P, Greenberg J, Guenther A. 2001. Seasonal temperature variations influence isoprene emission. Geophysical Research Letters 28: 1707-1710.
Rinnan R, Michelsen A, Bååth E, Jonasson S. 2007. Mineralization and carbon turnover in subarctic heath soil as affected by warming and additional litter. Soil Biology and Biochemistry 39: 3014-3023.
Rinnan R, Michelsen A, Jonasson S. 2008. Effects of litter addition and warming on soil carbon, nutrient pools and microbial communities in a subarctic heath ecosystem. Applied Soil Ecology 39: 271-281.
Rinnan R, Rinnan Å, Holopainen T, Holopainen JK, Pasanen P. 2005. Emission of non-methane volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from boreal peatland microcosms-effects of ozone exposure. Atmospheric Environment 39: 921-930.
Sakulyanontvittaya T, Duhl T, Wiedinmyer C, Helmig D, Matsunaga S, Potosnak M, Milford J, Guenther A. 2008. Monoterpene and sesquiterpene emission estimates for the United States. Environmental Science & Technology 42: 1623-1629.
Sharkey TD, Singsaas EL, Lerdau MT, Geron CD. 1999. Weather effects on isoprene emission capacity and applications in emissions algorithms. Ecological Applications 9: 1132-1137.
Staudt M, Bertin N, Frenzel B, Seufert G. 2000. Seasonal variation in amount and composition of monoterpenes emitted by young Pinus pinea trees - implications for emission modeling. Journal of Atmospheric Chemistry 35: 77-99.
Tape K, Sturm M, Racine C. 2006. The evidence for shrub expansion in Northern Alaska and the Pan-Arctic. Global Change Biology 12: 686-702.
Tarvainen V, Hakola H, Hellén H, Bäck J, Hari P, Kulmala M. 2005. Temperature and light dependence of the VOC emissions of Scots pine. Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics 5: 989-998.
Tholl D, Boland W, Hansel A, Loreto F, Röse USR, Schnitzler J-P. 2006. Practical approaches to plant volatile analysis. Plant Journal 45: 540-560.
Tiiva P, Faubert P, Michelsen A, Holopainen T, Holopainen JK, Rinnan R. 2008. Climatic warming increases isoprene emission from a subarctic heath. New Phytologist 180: 853-863.
Tiiva P, Faubert P, Räty S, Holopainen JK, Holopainen T, Rinnan R. 2009. Contribution of vegetation and water table on isoprene emission from boreal peatland microcosms. Atmospheric Environment 43: 5469-5475.
Tiiva P, Rinnan R, Faubert P, Räsänen J, Holopainen T, Kyrö E, Holopainen JK. 2007a. Isoprene emission from a subarctic peatland under enhanced UV-B radiation. New Phytologist 176: 346-355.
Tiiva P, Rinnan R, Holopainen T, Mörsky SK, Holopainen JK. 2007b. Isoprene emissions from boreal peatland microcosms; effects of elevated ozone concentration in an open field experiment. Atmospheric Environment 41: 3819-3828.
Truong C, Palmé AE, Felber F. 2007. Recent invasion of the mountain birch Betula pubescens ssp. tortuosa above the treeline due to climate change: genetic and ecological study in northern Sweden. Journal of Evolutionary Biology 20: 369-380.