Fitzgerald L. Booker

USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit, and
Department of Crop Science, North Carolina State University
3908 Inwood Road, Raleigh, NC   27603
Tel: 919-515-9495, Fax: 919-515-3593
email:  fitz.booker@ars.usda.gov
 

Publications

USDA-ARS Plant Science Research Unit

NCSU Department of Crop Science

USDA-CSREES Multistate Research Project NE-1013:  Mechanisms of Plant Responses to Ozone in the Northeastern U.S.

Ozone effects on crop plants

Investigations of pollutant ozone and rising atmospheric carbon dioxide effects on crop plant ecophysiology.  Research projects examine elevated carbon dioxide and ozone effects on plant gas-exchange, antioxidant metabolism, crop residue decomposition, and soil carbon dynamics.

Current Projects

• Field studies are underway to determine critical physiological processes involved in the individual and combined effects of elevated carbon dioxide and ozone on growth and yield of crop plants.

• Previous studies at our location show that ambient ozone pollution suppresses the yield of crops such as soybean, cotton, wheat and peanut by 5 to 15% annually (USDA-ARS Air Quality Program).  However, elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide reduces ozone damage in some crop plants.  Studies to determine the sources of these interactions are underway.

• Experiments in progress examine the effects of elevated carbon dioxide and ozone on stomatal conductance, ozone uptake, oxidative injury, growth, and yield in soybean and wheat using open-top chambers.

• I am also investigating the effects of elevated carbon dioxide and ozone on crop residue chemistry, decomposition, and soil carbon dynamics.  Increased biomass production at elevated carbon dioxide will likely increase carbon inputs to soils while suppressed biomass production due to ozone lowers carbon inputs to soils.  However, ozone can lower decomposition rates through
  changes in leaf chemistry.

• Both elevated carbon dioxide and ozone are expected to influence soil carbon sequestration and nitrogen mineralization rates, although the magnitude of changes and nature of the interactions are unclear at present.

• A collaborative project utilizes G-protein Arabidopsis mutants to examine ozone-elicited signal transduction (Arabidopsis poster).

• Experiments conducted in ozone exposure chambers in the NC State University Phytotron examine genotype sensitivity to ozone in conjunction with gas-exchange, antioxidant metabolism, and ethylene measurements to identify possible mechanisms to improve plant tolerance to ambient ozone pollution.