Upscaling Ozone Flux in Forests from Leaf to Landscape

Abstract

Although stomatal conductance for ozone (O3) correlates with leaf to air water vapor difference (VPDLA) at the leaf level, uncertainty in up-scaling to the whole tree level can be overcome by means of sap flow measurements at the tree trunk. Further up-scaling to the stand level is possible by relating whole tree O3 flux to silvicultural and/or tree-allometric data. In such a way, canopy conductance and O3 uptake can be related to ground surface area. When normalized, canopy conductance is demonstrated to follow a functional relationship to VPDLA across several forest ecosystems thus allowing a generalization of model approaches. Further up-scaling to the landscape level, however, needs further investigations due to differences in the response of canopy conductance to environmental drivers in forest stands and grassland ecosystems, respectively.