Progress 10/01/19 to 09/30/20
Outputs
Target Audience:In the second year (2020) of this project, we concentrated on writing materials based on our research findings. In this case, our target audience was mainly editors, reviewers, etc., of journals. In addition, we evaluated the effects of ozone on several species of milkweeds (Asclepias spp.). For these evaluations, our target audience included educators, citizen groups, the scientific community, the US Environmental Protection Agency, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Changes/Problems:Goals 1 and 2 were combined as describe above. Due to COVID-19 restirctions, some field and travel plans were canceled or delayed and other events were moved to an online platform. What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Melissa Mercado (M.S. graduate student in Plant Pathology) and Josh Gershey (B.S. undergraduate student in forestry), cultured and maintained the research plants in the greenhouse and exposure chambers, ran the computer-controlled ozone exposure and monitoring system, collected ozone-effects data, entered data into Excel spreadsheets, and conducted initial analyses of the data. Such involvement of the students provided training and professional development at both the undergraduate and graduate level for our students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?Results have been disseminated through a peer reviewed publication, the ERM/PPEM 430 course at Penn State, and several Air Pollution Learning modules. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We plan to continue exposing milkweed species, and perhaps other species, to ozone in order to continue to evaluate the ozone-sensitivity of additional species that we have not yet tested. Analyses will be conducted as reported. Educational/Outreach activities will continue as discussed above.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
For reporting herein, Goals 1 (Davis 60%, Decoteau 40%) and Goal2 (Davis 60%, Decoteau 40%) were combined for the following reasons. The general ozone-sensitivity of milkweeds is reflected in the table that we published as described below, which reflects Goal 1. The most ozone-sensitive species are listed at the top of that published table (i.e., common milkweed), which reflects Goal 2. Ten milkweed species were exposed to ozone in chambers within a greenhouse. Common Milkweed developed the greatest level of ozone-induced leaf injury ("stipple") of all species, confirming its ability to serve as a highly sensitive bioindicator of phytotoxic levels of tropospheric ozone. Green Antelopehorn and Woolypod Milkweed exhibited moderate levels of ozone-induced stipple. Broadleaf, Mexican Whorled, Sand, Green Comet, Heartleaf, Spider, and Utah Milkweed were tolerant to ozone, showing minimal or no stipple following exposure to ozone. Species in the latter two groups would not function suitably as bioindicators. Results were entered into a master ecological table, which we have been compiling, which now lists the relative ozone-sensitivity or resistance of 22 of 76 (29%) milkweed species common in the U.S. Within this table, species shown to be highly sensitive to ozone may serve as ozone-sensitive additional bioindicators that can be used to evaluate the effects of ozone on sensitive plant species within agricultural and forestry settings across the US. Goal 3 (Decoteau 100%): Regarding Educational/Outreach activities, we annually incorporate our above research findings into the ERM/PPEM 430 course entitled "Air Pollution Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystems." During Spring Semester 2020, the course was taught to 33 students, being taught in-person prior to Spring Break and taught remotely following Spring Break due to COVID-19. The class was scheduled to take a five-hour field trip in April to one of the largest coal-fired power plants in eastern United States, located near Johnstown, PA. In preparation for the trip, the potential environmental effects of mercury and sulfur dioxide, known air pollutants arising from the combustion of coal, was presented and discussed with the students. The trip was canceled due to COVID-19 restrictions, but a virtual field trip was developed and delivered online. Efforts were also extended this past year in dismantling the unique Air Quality Learning and Demonstration Center (in continuous use since its development since 2002) located at the Arboretum at Penn State due to termination of support from the PA Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Air Quality. The Learning Center was an outreach and education facility for air quality information and dissemination of research results. Materials produced, such as the Air Pollution Learning Modules, are still available for use.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Mercado, M.L, R.P. Marini, D.R. Decoteau, and D.D. Davis, 2020. Ozone Sensitivity of Ten Milkweed (Asclepias) Species. Northeastern Naturalist (In Press)
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Progress 05/13/19 to 09/30/19
Outputs
Target Audience:In the first year (2019) of this new project, we 1) wrote several refereed publications in which our initial target audience was mainly journal personnel (editors, reviewers, etc.) and 2) evaluated effects of ozone on several plant species, for which our target audiences included educators, citizen groups, ecology groups, the scientific community, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided?Melissa Mercado, (M.S. grad student in Plant Pathology), Kirsty Lloyd (PhD student in Plant Science) and Josh Gershey (B.S.undergraduate student in Forestry) cultured and maintained plants in the greenhouse chambers, used the computer-controlled ozone exposure and monitoring system, collected ozone effects data, entered data into Excel spreadsheets, and conducted initial analyses of the data. Such involvement in the ozone research project provided training and professional development at the B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. level for our students. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest?
Nothing Reported
What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?We mainly plan to continue exposing various plant species to ozone, and identifying additional ozone-sensitive bioindicators that are useful across the U.S. This will include having students closely involved in the ozone research. The Null Hypotheses to be tested will be that there is no significant differences in ozone sensitivity among the different species exposed to ozone. Materials and Methods and Data Analyses will continue mainly as in Year 1. Outreach activities will continue as discussed above.
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Goal 1. Effects of ozone on two Pennsylvania wine grape varieties. The French-American hybrid wine-grape cultivars 'Chambourcin' and 'Vidal' are commonly grown in Pennsylvania and are sensitive and tolerant, respectively, to the air pollutant ozone. The two grape cultivars were planted within an agricultural field in south-central Pennsylvania near Biglerville, and open-top chambers placed over the grapevines. Grapevines were exposed to either non-filtered air containing ambient ozone concentrations or to charcoal-filtered air that contained 63% of ambient ozone, annually from the beginning of June through the end of September, for 5 growing seasons. The ozone-susceptible cultivar Chambourcin exposed to ambient ozone averaged 5.28% leaf tissue injury over the five growing seasons, whereas Chambourcin foliage in the charcoal-filtered treatment exhibited a mean of only 0.48% injury during the same time period. In contrast, foliage of the ozone-tolerant Vidal cultivar exposed to either ozone treatment averaged only 0.02% mean tissue injury over the five seasons. Since tropospheric ozone is a component of climate change, these results should be useful in increasing our understanding of effects of climate change on terrestrial ecosystems and development of future government legislation regulating causes of climate change. B. Effects of night-time exposures of ozone: Effects of nighttime (8 PM to 7 AM) ozone effects on pod mass of ozone-sensitive (S156) and resistant (R123) snap bean genotypes were assessed using continuous stirred tank reactor exposure chambers in a greenhouse. Results from replicated trials revealed significant yield losses in both genotypes following combined day and night exposures to ozone, whereas night-only exposure caused significant decreases only for the S156 genotype. To our knowledge, these are the first results to confirm that the relative ozone sensitivity to daytime exposures of S156/R123 is also valid for nighttime exposures. Goal 2. We have successfully developed several ozone-sensitive bioindicators to detect phytotoxic levels of ambient ozone. However, ambient ozone concentrations have decreased in central Pennsylvania and we sought a more sensitive bioindicator species. We observed ambient ozone-induced leaf injury (stipple) on native staghorn sumac within a field at Rock Springs in a central PA, suggesting that this species might serve as a novel and highly sensitive ozone bioindicator. Therefore, we conducted a preliminary survey to determine the incidence and severity of ozone-induced stipple on staghorn sumac growing in a field near Rock Springs. We concurrently evaluated the level of foliar stipple on several other ozone-sensitive bioindicator species growing in the same field. We also planted tree-of-heaven seedlings, known to be highly sensitive to ozone, to augment our plant numbers in the field. Staghorn sumac developed significantly greater ozone-induced symptoms than the other bioindicators and has potential to serve as a valuable bioindicator to detect phytotoxic levels of ambient ozone across eastern U.S. Goal 3. We have included our research results of ozone effects on plants in updated classroom activities in ERM/PPEM 430, a course entitled "Air Pollution Impacts on Terrestrial Ecosystems," which was taught to 31 Penn State students. Updated information on ozone bioindicators and physiological responses of agricultural crops (with emphasis to nighttime ozone levels) was included in at least five 1-hour lectures.In addition, information at the PA DEP air pollution monitoring site in the Penn State arboretum was discussed. The class also took a 5-hour field trip to tour one of the largest coal-fired power plants (Johnstown) within the eastern U.S. Prior to the trip, potential effects of air pollutants such as mercury and sulfur dioxide emitted from coal-fired power plants was presented and discussed with the students.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Decoteau, D.R., R.P. Marini, and D.D. Davis. 2019. Influence of ozone on Chambourcin and Vidal wine grape varieties. Journal of Plant Science and Research 6(1):185
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2020
Citation:
Lloyd, K.L., D.D. Davis, R.P. Marini, and D.R. Decoteau. 2020. Response of sensitive and resistant snap bean genotypes to nighttime ozone concentrations. Journal of the American Society of Horticultural Science
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Lloyd, K.L., D.D. Davis, R.P. Marini, D.R. Decoteau, A. Huff, and W.H. Brune. 2019. Use of dried compressed air to generate ozone in vegetation exposure chambers: Quantification of trace nitrogen oxidants formed during corona discharge. Journal of Plant Science and Research 6(2):186
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Accepted
Year Published:
2019
Citation:
Seiler, L., D.R. Decoteau, R.P. Marini, and D.D. Davis. 2019. Staghorn Sumac (Rhus typhina): a new bioindicator to detect phytotoxic levels of ambient ozone in eastern U.S. Northeastern Naturalist 26(4):807-816
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