Abstract
The exchanges of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) between soils and the atmosphere are poorly known. We investigated VOC exchange rates and how they were influenced by soil moisture, temperature and the presence of plant roots in a Mediterranean forest soil. We measured VOC exchange rates along a soil moisture gradient (5%–12.5%–20%–27.5% v/v) and a temperature gradient (10°C–15°C–25°C–35°C) using PTR-MS. Monoterpenes were identified with GC-MS. Soils were a sink rather than a source of VOCs in both soil moisture and temperature treatments (−2.16 ± 0.35 nmol m−2 s−1 and −4.90 ± 1.24 nmol m−2 s−1 respectively). Most compounds observed were oxygenated VOCs like alcohols, aldehydes and ketones and aromatic hydrocarbons. Other volatiles such as acetic acid and ethyl acetate were also observed. All those compounds had very low exchange rates (maximum uptake rates from −0.8 nmol m−2 s−1 to −0.6 nmol m−2 s−1 for methanol and acetic acid). Monoterpene exchange ranged only from −0.004 nmol m−2 s−1 to 0.004 nmol m−2 s−1 and limonene and α-pinene were the most abundant compounds. Increasing soil moisture resulted in higher soil sink activity possibly due to increases in microbial VOCs uptake activity. No general pattern of response was found in the temperature gradient for total VOCs. Roots decreased the emission of many compounds under increasing soil moisture and under increasing soil temperature. While our results showed that emission of some soil VOCs might be enhanced by the increases in soil temperature and that the uptake of most soil VOCs uptake might be reduced by the decreases of soil water availability, the low exchange rates measured indicated that soil-atmosphere VOC exchange in this system are unlikely to play an important role in atmospheric chemistry.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Akiyama K, Matsuzaki K, Hayashi H (2005) Plant sesquiterpenes induce hyphal branching in arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi. Nature 435:824–827
Asensio D, Peñuelas J, Ogaya R and Llusià J (in press) Seasonal VOC exchange rates in a Mediterranean holm oak forest and their responses to drought conditions. Atmos Environ
Boyd DR, Clarke D, Cleij MC, Hamilton JTG, Sheldrake GN (2000) Bacterial biotransformation of isoprene and related dienes. Monat Chem 131(6):673–685
Chamberlain K, Guerrieri E, Pennacchio F, Pettersson J, Pickett JA, Poppy GM, Powell W, Wadhams LJ, Woodcok CM (2001) Can aphid-induced plant signals be transmitted aerially and through the rhizosphere? Biochem System Ecol 29:1063–1074
Chen F, Ro D, Petri J, Gershenzon J, Bohlmann J, Pichersky E, Tholl D (2004) Characterization of a root-specific Arabidopsis terpene synthase responsible for the formation of the volatile monoterpene 1,8-cineole. Plant Physiol 135:1956–1966
Cho C, Sung K, Coapcioglu MY, Drew M (2005) Influence of water content and plants on the dissipation of chlorinated volatile organic compounds in soil. Water Air Soil Pollut 167:259–271
Cleveland CC, Yavitt JB (1998) Microbial consumption of atmospheric isoprene in a temperate forest soil. Appl Environ Microbiol 64(1):172–177
Evans A (1998) Biodegradation of 14C-labeled low molecular organic acids using three biometer methods. J Geochem Exp 65:17–25
Fall R, Karl T, Hansel A, Jordan A, Lindinger W (1999) Volatile organic compounds emitted after leaf wounding: on-line analysis by proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry. J Geophys Res 104:15963–15974
Hamilton EW, Frank DA (2001) Can plants stimulate soil microbes and their own nutrient supply? Evidence from a grazing tolerant grass. Ecology 82:2397–2402
Hayward S, Muncey RJ, James AE, Halsall CJ, Hewitt CN (2001) Monoterpene emissions from soil in a Sitka spruce forest. Atmos Environ 35:4081–4087
Hippelein M, Mclachlan MS (1998) Soil/air partitioning of semivolatiles organic compounds. 1. Method development and influence of physical-chemical properties. Environ Sci Technol 32(2):310–316
IPCC (2001) Climate change 2001: The Scientific Basis. Contribution of Working Group I. In: Hougton JT, Dung Y, Griggs DJ, Noguer M, Van der Linden P, Dui X, Maskell K, Johnson CA (eds) Third Assessement Report of Intergovernamental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK
Janson RW (1993) Monoterpene emissions from Scots pine and Norwegian spruce. J Geophys Res Atmos 98(D2):2839–2850
Johnsen AR, Wick LY, Harms H (2005) Principles of microbial PAH-degradation in soil. Environ Pollut 133:71–84
Keppler F, Harper DB, Rockmann T, Moore RM, Hamilton JTG (2005) New insight into the atmospheric chloromethane budget gained using stable carbon isotope ratios. Atmos Chem Phys 5:2403–2411
Lindinger W, Hansel A, Jordan A (1998) On-line monitoring of volatile organic compounds at pptv level by means of proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS). Int J Mass Spectrom Ion Proc 173:191–241
Mackie AE, Wheatley RE (1999) Effects and incidence of volatile organic compound interactions between soil bacterial and fungal isolates. Soil Biol Biochem 31(3):375–385
Misra G, Pavlostathis SG, Perdue EM, Araujo R (1996) Aerobic biodegradation of selected monoterpenes. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 45(6):831–838
Nishida N, Tamotsu S, Nagata N, Saito C, Sakai A (2005) Allelopathic effects of volatile monoterpenoids produced by Salvia leucophylla: Inhibition of cell proliferation and DNA syntesis in the root apical meristem of Brassica campestris seedlings. J Chem Ecol 31(5):1187–1203
Nordenhem H, Nordlander G (1994) Olfactory oriented migration through soil by root-living Hylobius abietis (L) larvae (Col, Curculionidae). J Appl Entomol 117(5):457–462
Ogaya R, Peñuelas J, Matínez-Vilalta J, Mangiron M (2003) Effect of drought on diameter increment of Quercus ilex, Phillyrea latifolia, and Arbutus unedo in a holm oak forest of NESpain. Forest Ecol Man 180:175–184
Pegoraro E, Abrell L, Van Haren J, Barron-Gafford G, Grieve KA, Malhi Y, Murthy R, Lin G (2005) The effect of elevated atmospheric CO2 and drought on sources and sinks of isoprene ina temperate and tropical rainforest mesocosm. Glob Change Biol 11:1234–1246
Peñuelas J, Filella I, Sabate S, Gracia C (2005a) Natural systems: terrestrial ecosystems. In: Llebot JE (ed) Report on Climate change in Catalonia. Institut d’Estudis Catalans, Barcelona, pp 517–553
Peñuelas J, Filella I, Stefanescu C, Llusià J (2005b) Caterpillars of Euphydryas aurinia (Lepidoptera: Nymphalidae) feeding on Succisa pratensis leaves induce large foliar emissions of methanol. New Phytol 167:851–857
Ping L, Boland W (2004) Signals from the underground: bacterial volatiles promote growth in Arabidopsis. Trends Plant Sci 9(6):263–266
Pignatello JJ, Xing B (1996) Mechanisms of slow sorption of organic chemicals to natural particles. Environ Sci Technol 30(1):1–11
Ryu C, Farag MA, Hu C, Reddy MS, Wei H, Pare PW, Kloepper JW (2003) Bacterial volatiles promote growth in Arabidopsis. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 100(8):4927–4932
Sabate S, Gracia CA, Sanchez A (2002) Likey effects of climate change on growth of Quercus ilex, Pinus halepensis, Pinus pinaster, Pinus sylvestris and Fagus sylvatica forests in the Mediterranean region. Forest Ecol Manag 162(1):23–37
Schade GW, Goldstein AH (2001) Fluxes of oxygenated volatile compounds from a ponderosa pine plantation. J Geophys Res Atmos 106(D3):3111–3123
Schade GW, Custer TG (2004) OVOC emissions from agricultural soil in northern Germany during the (2003) European heat wave. Atmos Environ 38:6105–6114
Steeghs M, Bais HP, de Gouw J, Goldan P, Kuster W, Northway M, Fall R, Vivanco JM (2004) Proton-transfer-reaction mass spectrometry as a new tool for real time analisys of root-secreted volatile organic compounds in arabidopsis. Plant Physiol 135(1):47–58
Strobel BW (2000) Influence of vegetation on low-molecular-weight carboxylic acids in soil solution-a review. Geoderma 99:169–198
Walker TS, Bais HP, Grotewold E, Vivanco JM (2003) Root exudation and rhizosphere biology. Plant Physiol 132:44–51
Trotsenko YA, Ivanova YA, Ivanova EG, Doronina NV (2001) Aerobic methylotrophic bacteria as phytosymbionts. Microbiology 70(6):623–632
Valé M, Nguyen C, Dambrine E, Dupouey JL (2005) Microbial activity in the rhizosphere soil of six herbaceous species cultivated in a greenhouse is correlated with shoot biomass and root C concentrations. Soil Biol Biochem 37:2329–2333
Van Roon A, Parsons JR, Te Kloeze A, Govers HAJ (2005) Fate and transport of monoterpenes through soils. Part I. Prediction of temperature dependent soil fate model input-parameters. Chemosphere 61:599–609
White CS (1994) Monoterpenes-Their effects on ecosystem nutrient cycling. J Chem Ecol 20(6):1381–1406
Xu CK, Mo MH, Zhang LM, Zhang KQ (2004) Soil volatile fungistasis and volatile fungistatic compounds. Soil Biol Biochem 36(12):1997–2004
Yoo SK, Day DF (2002) Bacterial metabolism of alpha-pinene and beta-pinene and related monoterpenes by Pseudomonas sp. Strain PIN. Process Biochem 37(7):739–745
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Spanish MEC grants REN2003-04871, and CGL2004-01402/BOS and CGL2006-04025/BOS. We also gratefully acknowledge the partial funding by the ISONET European Commission contract MC-RTN-CT-2003-504720, the ESF program VOCBAS, the ALARM European Commision contract 506675, and a Fundación BBVA 2004 and a Catalan Government SGR2005-003/12 grants.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Electronic supplementary material
Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Asensio, D., Peñuelas, J., Filella, I. et al. On-line screening of soil VOCs exchange responses to moisture, temperature and root presence. Plant Soil 291, 249–261 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-006-9190-4
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-006-9190-4