A especiação dos monoterpenos em uma floresta da Amazônia central

Abstract

Plants produce and emit a large array of volatile metabolites termed biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) as an integral part of primary and secondary metabolism. Monoterpenes are BVOCs from the largest family of plant natural products, the terpenoids. Despite orders of magnitude difference in atmospheric reactivity and great diversity in biological functioning, little is known about monoterpene speciation in tropical forests. Using thermal desorption-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry techniques, twelve volatile monoterpenes were identified and quantified in a central Amazon terra firma rainforest including the first ambient air observations of the highly reactive cis-β-ocimene and trans-β- ocimene. At the ecosystem scale, monoterpene mixing ratios in the ambient air were greatest at the top of the canopy where light and temperatures are greatest. Leaf level monoterpene emissions were found to be light dependent among the Amazon trees sampled in the field. However, during drought stress conditions that led to leaf senescence, leaf monoterpene emissions were found to be first light dependent followed by temperature dependent and an acted as an early indicator of leaf lipid peroxidation. Further, leaf monoterpene emissions revealed a strong non-linear relationship with net photosynthesis (Pn), dedicating up to 2% of Pn to monoterpene emissions at leaf temperatures up to 30ºC and continuing to rise as leaf temperatures increased. These results suggest that highly reactive monoterpenes may play important roles as antioxidants protecting photosynthesis in plants and serve as near-canopy sources of secondary organic aerosol precursors through atmospheric photooxidation reactions.