Effects of Ozone or Sulfur Dioxide on Annual Plants of the Mojave Desert

Responses of Desert Annual Plants to Ozone and Water Stress in anin situExperiment

“…1 However, due to the differences between the open-top chamber and the outside environments these results may not reflect real reactions of plants grown in natural conditions. …”

“…All of the remaining species did not show any injury, which is consistent with the results of the previous studyabout 200 ppb of ozone for a duration of 40 hours was required to cause injury development for these species. 1 There were some discrepancies in reactions of species to ozone in the open air vs. open-top chamber studies. E. cicutarium was injured by 116 ppb ozone on the irrigated subplot, and by 133 ppb ozone on the non-irrigated subplot.…”

Effects of sulphur dioxide on photosynthesis in the succulent Augea capensis Thunb

“…In contrast, the impacts of SO 2 pollution on succulent species occurring in arid environments are relatively unknown, mainly because vegetation in these areas is seldom exposed to SO 2 pollution due to limited anthropogenic activities and distance from industrialised point sources. The few studies that have investigated effects of SO 2 on vegetation in arid environments focused on species with crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) (e.g., Olszyk et al, 1987) or desert winter annuals and perennials (Thompson et al, 1984). The unique metabolic adaptations in CAM plants allow for nocturnal stomatal opening, which is a very important survival mechanism in arid environments (Ting, 1985).…”

Acute and chronic sulfur dioxide fumigation of Pi{tilde n}on pine seeds and seedlings: Data compilation

“…Previous investigations on effects of sulfur dioxide on desert ecosystems include fumigation of range grasses (Davis et al, 1966), Indian ricegrass (Ferenbaugh, 1978), desert grasses (Johnson, 1974), and Mojave Desert plants (Thompson et al, 1980;Thompson et al, 1984) and uptake by desert soils (Ferenbaugh et al, 1979). In other related studies conducted at Los Alamos National Laboratory, Gladney et al (1993a, b, c, d, e) collected pifion pine foliage and soil samples in the vicinity of pifion pine from five national parks and monuments surrounding the Four Corners area and analyzed them for sulfur content to provide baseline data.…”