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Diversity of an early successional plant community as influenced by ozone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 April 1998

A. H. CHAPPELKA
Affiliation:
School of Forestry, 108 M. White-Smith Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA 36849
G. L. SOMERS
Affiliation:
School of Forestry, 108 M. White-Smith Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA 36849
M. S. MILLER-GOODMAN
Affiliation:
Department of Agronomy and Soils, 202 Funchess Hall, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama, USA 36849
K. STOLTE
Affiliation:
USDA Forest Service, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, 3041 East Cornwallis Road, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, USA 27709
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Abstract

An early successional plant community was exposed to various ozone concentrations for two growing seasons (1994–1995) in open-top chambers in Auburn, Alabama, USA. The ozone treatments were: AA, ambient air (open plots); CF, carbon-filtered air (c. 0·5×ambient air), 1×, non-filtered air, and 2×, twice ambient air. Vegetative canopy cover exhibited a pattern of accumulation in the spring, with maximum canopy cover attained in summer, then senescence of foliage in the autumn 1994. This pattern was not observed in 1995 as a result of a drought during the spring and summer. Varying ozone exposures caused shifts in the competitive interactions between plants, thereby altering community structure. Higher canopy cover, vertical canopy density (layers of foliage), species richness, diversity, and evenness existed in the CF treatments than in the other treatments. In addition, winged sumac (Rhus copallina L.) became a major component of the CF treatments only during 1995. Surprisingly, blackberry (Rubus cuneifolius Pursh.), a species considered ozone-sensitive, based on visible injury, dominated canopy cover within the 2× treatments, 41 and 33% of total canopy cover in 1994 and 1995, respectively. From these results it is concluded that plant communities existing in areas where lower ozone concentrations are prevalent might be more complex and diverse than those existing in areas with higher ozone concentrations.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© Trustees of the New Phytologist 1998

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