Emission of short chained organic acids, aldehydes and monoterpenes from Quercus ilex L. and Pinus pinea L. in relation to physiological activities, carbon budget and emission algorithms

We report on the emission of monoterpenes, short-chained organic acids and aldehydes from Mediterranean oak (Quercus ilex L.) and pine (Pinus pinea L.). All studies were done with dynamic cuvettes enclosing intact branches at the top of the canopy flushed with ambient air. Daily trends are compared with the photosynthetic active radiation (PAR), leaf temperature and the physiological activities of the enclosed branches, i.e. assimilation and transpiration, with special attention on the carbon budget. Oak emits monoterpenes in high amounts, up to 2% of the assimilated carbon. As compared with monoterpenes, short-chained organic acids and aldehydes are of minor importance for oak. However, on a leaf dry-weight basis equal amounts of acids and aldehydes are released from oak and pine. As pine emitted only low amounts of terpenes (below 0.2% of the assimilated carbon) the release of terpenes and oxygenated compounds is of equal importance for this species. A comparison of a modelled light and temperature driven emission with the observed volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions showed good agreement for monoterpenes as well as for organic acids emitted in the case of oak. For pine only the release of acids showed an adequate relation to the algorithm data, whereas the terpene emissions seemed to be dominated by temperature effects. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd.