Monoterpene emissions from rubber trees (<i>Hevea brasiliensis</i>) in a changing landscape and climate: chemical speciation and environmental control

Abstract Emissions of biogenic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have important roles in ecophysiology and atmospheric chemistry at a wide range of spatial and temporal scales. Tropical regions are a major global source of VOC emissions and magnitude and chemical speciation of VOC emissions are highly plant‐species specific. Therefore it is important to study emissions from dominant species in tropical regions undergoing large‐scale land‐use change, for example, rubber plantations in South East Asia. Rubber trees ( Hevea brasiliensis ) are strong emitters of light‐dependent monoterpenes. Measurements of emissions from leaves were made in the dry season in February 2003 and at the beginning of the wet season in May 2005. Major emitted compounds were sabinene, α ‐pinene and β ‐pinene, but β ‐ocimene and linalool also contributed significantly at low temperature and light. Cis ‐ocimene was emitted with a circadian course independent of photosynthetic active radiation (PAR) and temperature changes with a maximum in the middle of the day. Total isoprenoid VOC emission potential at the beginning of the wet season (94 μg gdw −1 h −1 ) was almost two orders of magnitude higher than measured in the dry season (2 μg g dw −1 h −1 ). Composition of total emissions changed with increasing temperature or PAR ramps imposed throughout a day. As well as light and temperature, there was evidence that assimilation rate was also a factor contributing to seasonal regulating emission potential of monoterpenes from rubber trees. Results presented here contribute to a better understanding of an important source of biogenic VOC associated with land‐use change in tropical South East Asia.