DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The Effects of Elevated Ozone on Global Carbon and Water Cycling Mediated by Plants

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

Plants directly influence climate by controlling the movement of two powerful greenhouse gases, carbon dioxide and water, between the Earth?s surface and the atmosphere through the processes of photosynthesis and transpiration. Ozone (O3), a powerful air pollutant, damages plants such that the regulation of transpiration and photosynthesis is altered ultimately leading to changes in atmospheric carbon dioxide and water concentrations. This project will incorporate experimentally determined effects of O3 on plant photosynthesis and transpiration into a commonly used global climate simulation model developed by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR). This project will be the first to use a climate model to differentiate between responses of transpiration and photosynthesis to O3 exposure. Incorporating changes in both transpiration and photosynthesis will allow for more accurate representations of future changes to regional and global hydrology and climate. This will improve the predictive power of climate models and the understanding of global scale plant responses to O3. These improved predictions can be used to inform future air pollution and climate policy decisions.