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Ethylene — A Possible Factor in the Response of Plants to Air Pollution and Acid Precipitation

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Effects of Atmospheric Pollutants on Forests, Wetlands and Agricultural Ecosystems

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIG,volume 16))

Abstract

Ethylene is a ubiquitous component of urban and rural air at concentrations varying from 0.6 μg.m−3 to over 8000 μg.m−3. Rural levels are usually below 14 μg.m−3 but as one approaches burning Vegetation, automobile exhaust, and city and industrial areas, levels rise rapidly. Levels of over 120 μg.m−3 have been often reported in such areas.

Since ethylene is also a naturally produced plant growth hormone, as well as an air pollutant of anthropogenic origin, there is a possibility that unnaturally high concentrations of gas will interfere with normal growth and development. Low levels of ethylene (well below 120 μg.m−3) have been shown to cause stem dwarfing, slow leaf expansion, increased epinasty, leaf curling, promote premature chlorosis, senescence and abscission, and interfere with flowering and various processes concerned with seed and bud dormancy.

Many common environmental stresses such as SO2, O3, heavy metal toxicity, cold, drought, flooding, wind, and UV irradiation have been shown to stimulate endogenous ethylene biosynthesis. Perhaps such stress-induced increases in ethylene might act additively with ethylene from anthropogenic sources to produce some of the symptoms seen in forests subjected to acid precipitation.

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  1. Plant Physiology Research Group, Biology Department, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2N 1N4

    D. M. Reid

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  1. Institute for Environmental Studies, University of Toronto, M5S 1A4, Toronto, Ontario, Canada

    T. C. Hutchinson  & K. M. Meema  & 

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Reid, D.M. (1987). Ethylene — A Possible Factor in the Response of Plants to Air Pollution and Acid Precipitation. In: Hutchinson, T.C., Meema, K.M. (eds) Effects of Atmospheric Pollutants on Forests, Wetlands and Agricultural Ecosystems. NATO ASI Series, vol 16. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70874-9_17

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-70874-9_17

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