Monitoring and Studying the Uptake of Air Pollution by Ecosystems at Eddy Covariance Towers

Speaker:  Anam Khan, Research Assistant/PhD Student, UW-Madison

Tropospheric ozone is a secondary air pollutant formed through reactions involving nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds. A portion of the land sink of ozone is comprised of uptake through plant stomata which can result in oxidative stress altering primary and secondary plant metabolism with reductions in photosynthesis and biomass. Many ecosystems face high exposure to ozone, but realized impacts of ozone on plant function depend on stomatal uptake and the antioxidant capacity of plants. Monitoring ozone fluxes at networks of eddy covariance towers will allow us to estimate stomatal and non-stomatal uptake of ozone by various ecosystems and study how micrometeorology, stress, and disturbance impact the ecosystem ozone sink. Khan will discuss how existing monitoring of ozone fluxes at eddy covariance towers has allowed us to form a better understanding of the ecosystem ozone sink and present a roadmap towards the expansion of ozone flux monitoring at eddy covariance towers.