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Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris L.) trees, aged about 20 years old, growing on a natural pine heath were exposed to two concentrations of CO2 (ambient CO2 and double-ambient CO2) and two O3 regimes (ambient O3 and double-ambient O3) and their combination in open-top chambers during growing seasons 1994, 1995 and 1996. Concentrations of foliar starch and secondary compounds are reported in this paper. Starch concentrations remained unaffected by elevated CO2 and/or O3 concentrations during the first 2 study years. But in the autumn of the last study year, a significantly higher concentration of starch was found in current-year needles of trees exposed to elevated CO2 compared with ambient air. There were large differences in concentrations of starch and secondary compounds between individual trees. Elevated concentrations of CO2 and/or O3 did not have any significant effects on the concentrations of foliar total monoterpenes, total resin acids or total phenolics. Significantly higher concentrations of monoterpenes and resin acids and mostly lower concentrations of starch were found in trees growing without chambers than in those growing in open-top chambers, while there were no differences in concentrations of total phenolics between trees growing without or in chambers. The results suggest that elevated concentrations of CO2 might increase foliar starch concentrations in Scots pine, while secondary metabolites remain unaffected. Realistically elevated O3 concentrations do not have clear effects on carbon allocation to starch and secondary compounds even after 3 exposure years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of spruce shoot aphid (Cinara pilicornis Hartig) populations was monitored in natural and artificial infestations of Norway spruce (Picea abies Karst.) seedlings, exposed to air pollutants in an experimental field. The pollutants, applied both singly and in mixtures, were gaseous sulphur dioxide, NaF (30 mg l -1 F) and Ca(NO 3 ) 2 or (NH 4 ) 2 SO 4 in aqueous solutions (200 mg l -1 N). Aphid numbers on 10 seedlings in each treatment and two control plots were counted at 2-week intervals. At the beginning of the experiment aphid numbers did not differ between treatments. Aphid populations peaked in late June and early July. All the pollutants and their combinations significantly increased the numbers of aphids per seedling. Four apterous females were transferred to spruce seedlings which were growing in containers in the same plots. After 4-5 weeks aphid numbers were significantly higher in the fluoride treatment and in the combined treatment of fluoride, nitrogen and SO 2 . The pollution treatments did not have a significant effect on shoot growth. Concentrations of F and S in needles were higher in treatments involving these pollutants. There were no significant differences in the concentrations of free amino acids in shoot stems between control and fluoride treatment. However, the relatively low concentration of arginine in the F treatment at the end of the growing season might indicate disturbances in the nitrogen metabolism of spruce seedlings.