Physiological and biochemical responses of two tree species in urban areas to different air pollution levels

S. G. Baek, S. Y. Woo

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

We investigated the physiological and biochemical differences in Pterocarpus indicus and Erythrina orientalis grown in four sites at different pollution levels in the Philippines: Makati, Pasig and Quezon (high pollution levels; HP) located in Metro Manila, and La Mesa Watershed (a non-polluted area; NP). Among these four areas, HP sites had higher net photosynthetic rates (PN) than NP sites, except for Makati. Among HP sites, Makati and Quezon had the lowest PN for P. indicus and E. orientalis, respectively. Chlorophyll (Chl) contents were significantly lower in HP than in NP sites. Trees in Makati had the lowest Chl contents among HP sites, and P. indicus had higher Chl contents than did E. orientalis. In addition, the chloroplasts in HP trees had small starch grains with numerous dark, large plastoglobuli. Furthermore, antioxidant enzymes, indicative of the defense mechanism, showed a significantly higher activity in HP than in NP trees.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)23-29
Number of pages7
JournalPhotosynthetica
Volume48
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 2010

Keywords

  • Antioxidant enzyme
  • Chlorophyll content
  • Chloroplasts
  • Photosynthetic rate
  • Plastoglobuli

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