Needle ultrastructure and starch content in Scots pine and Norway spruce after ozone fumigation

The ultrastructure of current and previous year needles of Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) and Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) Karst. was studied after exposures to several different ozone concentrations (100 to 600 nL . L(-1)) and doses in a chamber system. The ultrastructural changes observed in different experiments in both of these species were qualitatively very similar. Changes were observed in the mesophyll tissue, in which increased density of chloroplast stroma and an increase of ribosome-like granules were the early symptoms, followed by a decrease of the size of chloroplasts and starch grains. Simultaneously a decline of needle starch content could be measured. After fumigation with the lower concentrations, hypertrophy of microbodies were also apparent. When the seedlings were fumigated with the highest concentration (600 nL . L(-1)) a subsequent disintegration of cytoplasm and other cell organelles and finally a collapse of the contents of the mesophyll cells, leading to visible injuries, was found. Scots pine nursery stock seedlings appeared to be about equal in sensitivity to ozone as Norway spruce clonal stock. The spruce clones showed differences in sensitivity to the ozone fumigations. Since the observed symptoms are consistent in two species through a concentration gradient of ozone, and also agree with the information dealing with ozone injuries in literature, it is possible to use ultrastructural observations for diagnosing the presence of ozone injuries.