2018 Volume 74 Issue 1 Pages 40-44
Recently, Moso bamboo forests have been expanding in Japan because they were left unmanaged and because of the characteristically fast growth rate of bamboo. In this study, trees of 14 bamboo species in two bamboo forests and an exhibition garden in Japan were screened for biogenic volatile organic compound (BVOC) emissions by using a leaf cuvette. The screening showed that 12 out of 14 species (86%) emitted isoprene at rates of 0.7-99.1 nmol m-2 s-1. No monoterpene and sesquiterpene emitters were identified. Our result indicated that several bamboo species, such as Phyllostachys spp., Semiarundinaria spp., and Bambusa spp., should be categorized as strong isoprene emitters. We also measured the diurnal patterns of isoprene emissions for Phyllostachys heterocycla and Phyllostachys bambusoides in spring and summer, 2015. The isoprene emission rates of both species increased on summer days, reaching a maximum level (78.1 nmol m-2 s-1 and 57.6 nmol m-2 s-1, respectively) around noon, and were lower in spring (<5 nmol m-2 s-1). Our results indicate that the increasing areas of bamboo forest in future could contribute to increasing atmospheric concentrations of ozone and other photochemical oxidants.