Abstract:
The water use, biological characteristics, concentration of sulfur dioxide (SO
2) and meteorological data were acquired by the sap flow measurements and environmental monitoring techniques. Based on the coupling relationship between water vapor and trace gas through two-dimensional exchange of pores, the canopy stomatal conductance for SO
2 (
GSO2), canopy SO
2 uptake flux (
FSO2), and accumulated stomatal SO
2 flux (
FSO2, st) of four dominant tree species (
Pinus manssoniana,
Castanopsis chinensis,
Schima superba, and
Machilus chinensis) in a natural mixed conifer-broadleaf forest at Dinghushan, south China were determined. The results show that, on a daily scale, the time at which the maximum concentration of SO
2 appeared was partly overlapped the time when the maximum
GSO2 occurred, and the maximum absorption of the four dominant tree species occurred at around noon time. On a seasonal scale, the average concentration of SO
2 in the dry season (from October to March) was 10.11 nL·L
-1, which was higher than that in the wet season (from April to September), 5.41 nL·L
-1. The
GSO2 of the four species was significantly higher in the wet season than that in the dry season (
P < 0.001), while the
FSO2 in the wet season was higher than that in the dry season (
P < 0.001). Furthermore, the
FSO2, st of
C. chinensis and
M. chinensis were 2.16 and 2.50 mmol·m
-2, which were higher than 1.70 and of 1.91 mmol·m
-2 for
P. massoniana and
S. superba, respectively. The SO
2 stomatal absorption behavior of the four dominant tree species was mainly affected by factors such as vapor pressure deficit (VPD), photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and SO
2 concentration. This research provides the basic data for the reasonable evaluation of SO
2 absorption flux in mixed coniferous-broadleaf forests in the Pearl River Delta region, and provides a basis for risk prevention for environmental assessment.