Unifying explanation for variation in ozone sensitivity among woody plants

The research finds that ozone tolerance in woody plants is closely linked to leaf dry mass per unit leaf area (LMA). The study demonstrates that using a mass-based stomatal flux index rather than an area-based one reduces the variation in ozone sensitivity across species and allows the responses of broadleaf and needle-leaf species to converge, suggesting that LMA is a key trait for improving large-scale ozone impact assessments.

• Ozone tolerance at the leaf level is closely associated with leaf dry mass per unit leaf area (LMA).
• Reductions in whole-tree biomass show a stronger correlation with stomatal flux per unit leaf mass (r2 = 0.56) than with stomatal flux per unit leaf area (r2 = 0.42).
• Using a mass-based index significantly reduces the interspecific variation in ozone flux-response slopes (CV = 36%) compared to an area-based index (CV = 66%), leading to a convergence in relationships between needle-leaf and broadleaf species.

APA

Stockholm Environment Institute (2017). Unifying explanation for variation in ozone sensitivity among woody plants. https://www.sei.org/publications/unifying-explanation-variation-ozone-sensitivity-among-woody-plants/

Chicago

Stockholm Environment Institute. Unifying explanation for variation in ozone sensitivity among woody plants. 2017. https://www.sei.org/publications/unifying-explanation-variation-ozone-sensitivity-among-woody-plants/.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Stockholm Environment Institute |title=Unifying explanation for variation in ozone sensitivity among woody plants |date=27 December 2017 |url=https://www.sei.org/publications/unifying-explanation-variation-ozone-sensitivity-among-woody-plants/ |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{stockholmenvironmentinstitute2017unifying, author = {{Stockholm Environment Institute}}, title = {{Unifying explanation for variation in ozone sensitivity among woody plants}}, institution = {Stockholm Environment Institute}, year = {2017}, month = dec, url = {https://www.sei.org/publications/unifying-explanation-variation-ozone-sensitivity-among-woody-plants/}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }