On the response of pigments and antioxidants of Pinus halepensis seedlings to Mediterranean climatic factors and long term ozone exposure

An experiment was carried out in open-top chambers located in eastern Spain. One-yr-old Pinus halepensis Mill. seedlings were exposed during three consecutive summers to the following ozone (O-3) treatments: charcoal-filtered air (CFA), non-filtered air (NFA) or non-filtered air plus 40 nl l(-1) O-3, 9 h d(-1), 5 d wk(-1) (NFA+40). Seasonal variations in Aleppo pine performance were observed since reductions in chlorophyll and cellular peroxidase levels associated with increases in superoxide dismutase activity, were recorded during the summer. Similarly, a reduction in epoxidation state was found at midday during the summer, derived from an activation of the xanthophyll cycle associated to an increment in radiation and temperature levels. The first O-3-induced effects were recorded in previous-year needles (1991) during the first summer exposure as an increase in extracellular and total peroxidase activities and in zeaxanthin levels in the NFA+40 treatment along with a trend to a higher SOD activity in this treatment. A carry-over effect was detected since a lower winter recovery of chlorophyll levels was found in the NFA+40 seedlings along with a reduction of xanthophyll levels. A reduction in chlorophyll levels was observed in the previous-year needles (1992) from the NFA+40 treatment at the end of the second fumigation period. Realistic ozone exposures induced alterations in plant antioxidative systems and plant pigments as shown in this paper. These observations together with the reductions in stomatal conductance and net photosynthesis recorded in the same experiment, indicate that Aleppo pine is a species sensitive to ozone.