Carbon fixation efficiency of plants influenced by sulfur dioxide

In the land ecosystem, the forest can absorb the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere and turn the CO2 into organic carbon to store it in the plant body. About 2 × 1011 tons of CO2 changes through photosynthesis into organic matter by plant annually. In this research, ten kinds of woody plants were selected for assessing the carbon fixation ability influenced by sulfur dioxide (SO2). The tested trees were put into a fumigation chamber for 210 days in a 40-ppb SO2 environment. The results of this study showed that there was no clear symptom of tested trees under a 40-ppb SO2 environment. The tested trees could tolerate this polluted environment, but it will impact their CO2 absorption ability. The carbon fixation ability will reduce as the polluted period lengthens. The carbon fixation potential of tested trees ranged from 2.1 to 15.5 g·CO2/m2·d with an average of 7.7 g·CO2/m2·d. The changes in CO2 absorption volume for Messerschmidia argentea were more stable during the fumigation period with a variation of 102%. Among the tested trees, Diospyros morrisiana had the best carbon fixation potential of 9.19 g·CO2/m2·d and M. argentea had the least with 2.54 g·CO2/m2·d.