Herbivore-induced monoterpene emissions from coniferous forests: Potential impact on local tropospheric chemistry

Herbivory results in an immediate increase in the rate of monoterpene emis- sion from conifer tissues to the atmosphere. The current study uses simulated herbivory and a zero-dimensional photochemistry model with detailed treatment of monoterpene photooxidation to explore the potential impact of these herbivore-induced monoterpene emissions on local tropospheric chemistry dynamics. Measured monoterpene emission rates from undamaged current-year and year-old needles and wounded current-year needles of ponderosa pine and Douglas-fir trees were used to calculate whole-canopy fluxes expected from both a ponderosa pine and a Douglas-fir forest with 0%, 10%, and 25% damage to current-year needles. Fluxes from ponderosa pine forests with 10%- and 25%-damaged foliage are potentially 2- and 3.6-fold higher, respectively, than fluxes from forests with no herbivory. Douglas-fir forests experiencing 10% and 25% foliar damage can emit 1.6 and 2.5 times higher fluxes, respectively, than forests with no damaged foliage. The model simulations suggest that the fluxes resulting from even low-level herbivore damage (10% foliar damage) are large enough to increase local tropospheric production of ozone and organic nitrates and to suppress hydroxyl radical (OH) concentrations. In both Douglas-fir and ponderosa pine forests, the predicted magnitude of the perturbations to each of these chemical species increases linearly with the extent of foliar damage and is critically de- pendent on local mixing ratios of nitrogen oxides (NO x ). Ozone production is most sensitive to herbivore-induced emissions at NOx concentrations between 0.3 and 7 nmol/mol. The presence of isoprene in coniferous-forest air diminishes the role herbivory plays in gen- erating local ozone production. The results suggest that defoliation events should be con- sidered to represent an important potential control over local oxidative tropospheric chem- istry and to play an important role in perturbing local ozone dynamics in many rural coniferous forests throughout the United States.

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