Abstract

Aluminum (Al) has been suggested to be an important stress factor in forest decline due to its mobilization in soil following atmospheric deposition of acidic pollutants. A major goal of our research is to develop physiological and biochemical markers of stress in trees using cell cultures and whole plants. Needles of red spruce (Picea rubens) collected from several sites in the northeastern United States and red spruce cells grown in suspension cultures were examined for polyamine and inorganic-ion content. The cells in culture were exposed to various concentrations of Al for different lengths of time. Exposure to Al increased putrescine biosynthesis and lowered the concentrations of cellular Ca, Mg, Mn, and K. No treatments were applied to the trees but some of the sites were known to be under "general environmental stress" as indicated by a large number of dead and dying red spruce trees. All of the sites, while differing in geochemistry, had a soil pH value below 4.0. Data collected from field studies enabled us to categorize these sites on the basis of cellular levels of putrescine and soil chemistry. Needles from trees growing on Ca-rich soils (organic horizon) with low exchangeable Al:Ca ratios had lower levels of putrescine than those from trees growing on Ca-poor soils with high Al:Ca ratios.

Department

Biological Sciences

Publication Date

1-1-1996

Publisher

USDA Forest Service

Document Type

Report

Share

COinS
 
 

To view the content in your browser, please download Adobe Reader or, alternately,
you may Download the file to your hard drive.

NOTE: The latest versions of Adobe Reader do not support viewing PDF files within Firefox on Mac OS and if you are using a modern (Intel) Mac, there is no official plugin for viewing PDF files within the browser window.