Approaches for quantifying reactive and low-volatility biogenic organic compound emissions by vegetation enclosure techniques – Part B: Applications Original Research Article

The focus of the studies presented in the preceding companion paper (Part A: Review) and here (Part B: Applications) is on defining representative emission rates from vegetation for determining the roles of biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions in atmospheric chemistry and aerosol processes. The review of previously published procedures for identifying and quantifying BVOC emissions has revealed a wide variety of experimental methods used by various researchers. Experimental details become increasingly critical for quantitative emission measurements of low volatility monoterpenes (MT) and sesquiterpenes (SQT). These compounds are prone to be lost inadvertently by uptake to materials in contact with the sample air or by reactions with atmospheric oxidants. These losses become more prominent with higher molecular weight compounds, potentially leading to an underestimation of their emission rates. We present MT and SQT emission rate data from numerous experiments that include 23 deciduous tree species, 14 coniferous tree species, 8 crops, and 2 shrubs. These data indicate total, normalized (30 °C) basal emission rates from <10 to 5600 ngC g−1 h−1 for MT, and from <10 to 1150 ngC g−1 h−1 for SQT compounds. Both MT and SQT emissions have exponential dependencies on temperature (i.e. rates are proportional to eβT). The inter-quartile range of β-values for MT was between 0.12 and 0.17 K−1, which is higher than the value commonly used in models (0.09 K−1). However many of the MT emissions also exhibited light dependencies, making it difficult to separate light and temperature influences. The primary light-dependent MT was ocimene, whose emissions were up to a factor of 10 higher than light-independent MT emissions. The inner-quartile range of β-values for SQT was between 0.15 and 0.21 K−1.