NE-176 Annual Meeting Minutes 1995 - 2002

Meeting Date: April 17, 1996

Location: USDA-ARS Air Quality Research Unit, NC State University, Raleigh, NC

Mike Robinson, Chair

Attendees: Fitzgerald Booker, Steve Britz, Kent Burkey, Art Chappelka, Boris Chevone, Al Heagle, Pat Logan, Margaret McGrath, Joe Miller, Robert Miller, Charles Mulchi, Eva Pell, Mike Robinson, Nina Shishkoff, Judith Sinn

Minutes: The meeting was called to order at 1:00 pm. The major purpose of this meeting was to discuss the publication of the 5 year report (1991-1995), and to outline the next five years of research (1996-2000).

Mike Robinson opened the meeting with the election of the new secretary and chair-elect. Dr. Art Chappelka, Auburn University was elected as chair for the 1997 meeting.

Bob Miller announced that he is stepping down immediately as Administrative Advisor to the NE- 176 group. Dr. Pat Logan, Director Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station will be Bob's replacement. The group thanked Bob for all of his support and welcomed Pat to the group.

Bob Miller mentioned that the President's 1997 budget calls for an increase in NRI funding, but don't spend the money just yet. Bob mentioned that one thing that would help the group is self-marketing. This led to much discussion. Two ideas discussed were a home-page on the Internet and a brief mission statement that could be forwarded to EPA (or other organizations) and congressional leaders. If anyone has any other ideas regarding this please write them down and send to the committee chair.

Charles Mulchi reported on the progress of the NE-176 five-year report (1991-1995). The Maryland Agricultural Experiment Station will publish it. He needs laboratory or individual reports no later than July 1, 1996. Please contact him if you have any questions. New members are welcome to submit any material that they feel may be relevant to the program.

Eva Pell mentioned that Joanne Rebbeck, USDA Forest Service, Delaware, Ohio and Keith Davis, Ohio State University asked to join the group. They were accepted with little discussion, and Pat Logan will send out a letter of invitation, with some forms to be filled out.

Brief individual reports were heard from Charles Mulchi, Margaret McGrath, Boris Chevone, Art Chappelka, Eva Pell, Steve Britz, Joe Miller, Fitz Booker and Al Heagle. Boris presented a report regarding Sagar Krupa's work and Art presented Richard Flagler's report. They were both unable to attend but did send brief work statements. In addition, Kent Burkey has joined Joe Miller's group and will be working on some NE-176-related projects in the future. Welcome aboard Kent.

Collaborative research projects were discussed and it was determined that the group has at least four on-going or proposed collaborative efforts among two or more members of the committee. If each member would send those to the chair, it will be included in the next progress report.

The next meeting was tentatively scheduled for Monday and Tuesday January 6-7, 1997 in Beltsville, MD (weather permitting).

Meeting adjourned at 5:00 pm.

NE-176 Annual Meeting Minutes 1995 - 2002

Meeting Date: January 5-6, 1997

Location: USDA-ARS Air Quality Research Unit, NC State University, Raleigh, NC

Attendees: J. Barnes, F. Booker, S. Britz, K. Burkey, A. Chappelka, B. Chevone, A. Heagle, R. Huettel, E. Lee, P. Logan, J. Miller, C. Mulchi, M. Robinson,

J. Miller, Local Host

Art Chappelka, Chair

Steve Britz was nominated and approved for new Chair.

Annual reports are due now and should be sent to Chappelka no later than February 1; Final report to be compiled by Chappelka for transmittal to CSREES.

A motion was passed thanking Robert Miller for his past service; Chappelka will prepare letter of thanks; Pat Logan will provide the address.

Richard Flagler has resigned from the committee.

The names of several prospective new members were discussed.

J. Rebbeck (Forest Service, Delaware, OH) and K. Davis (Ohio State) are being added. C. Andersen (U.S. EPA, Corvallis, OR) formally requested membership through addendum process?

The importance of collaborative research was emphasized as a theme for this meeting. Guidance was requested from CSREES Advisor and Administrative Advisor to identify funding sources.

Robin Huettel, new CSREES representative for plant pathology, was introduced.

Administrative Advisor's Report

Pat Logan presented a brief introduction, citing his previous experience as an entomologist working with the cereal leaf beetle, gypsy moth, and Colorado potato beetle. He has some appreciation for the effects of atmospheric ozone on plants from his work with potatoes. He also emphasized a systems approach, for example, in plant-insect interactions. His current assignment is AES Station Director in Rhode Island. His primary function as Administrative Advisor is to help the group succeed and he indicated a desire to work hard toward that end. Logan will be attending a workshop for advisors in February. He also volunteered to take minutes for the group.

The current climate around regional research (viz. reformation of CSREES; impact of the Govenmient Performance Results Act of 1993 this year and next) suggests a need for the group to be more acutely aware of its relation to public expectations of performance. There is clearly increasing emphasis within the Regional Research programs and among the North East Regional Directors for evidence of interdependence (a need to work together and real collaboration in regional projects beyond that of simple annual information exchanges). Logan emphasized the need to think and work together (i.e., "what are other NE- 176 members doing that could become important to my work? What am I doing that relates to the other members and can lead to greater collaboration?").

Barnes: CSREES Advisor's Report.

Merger of ES and CSRS now 2 years old. The task of merging two cultures is momentous. New frameworks are beginning to emerge (e.g., NE IPM RFP'S) along with philosophical changes in regional research administration (e.g., demise of Committee of Nine; Directors assuming C-9 functions) and more emphasis on user group inputs to assign priorities for reassigning existing funds in the absence of new funds. It is not clear what is driving agenda for ozone research.

EPA has released proposed new National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone (1100 page report). Secondary standard is configured to protect vegetation. Standards may be used by National Parks Service.

It was suggested that NE- 176 study and comment to NAAQ (i.e., to OAQPS, address in materials brought by JB, to be distributed on Monday). Discussion Monday on group consensus regarding secondary standards for vegetation. Britz and Chappelka will prepare and circulate to NE- 176 members a joint draft statement responding to proposed EPA standards. Deadline (to EPA) is 2/18/97.

Questions to consider during course of meeting. What progress has been made (conversely, what gaps are apparent) on three primary objectives? What evidence is there that scientists are collaborating? What is the relevance of this work? Are there clear benefits to society coming from this project? How have working within the framework of NE-176 made the research of individual project members different from what it would have been in the absence of this regional project?

C. Mulchi; Update on NE-176 Report (1991-1995) publication status:

The goal is to produce a readable, applications-oriented publication based on 5-year report similar to 1983 NE-121 regional report Air Pollution Impacts on Agriculture and Forestry.

Day 2 (Monday): Discussion of Future Research.

Discussion led by Barnes and Logan.

Reminder: The three objectives of NE-176

Characterize whole plant responses to O₃, including carbon assimilation and allocation, growth and productivity.

Identify and delineate primary factors, both biotic and environmental, that determine plant response to O₃

Determine mechanisms of O₃ action and plant defense systems, using cultivars and genotypes characterized in whole plant experiments.

Q: How important is it that we work together?

A: It is important that you work together, as evidenced by common experiments, coauthorships, etc.

Q: How many groups are working with the 2 clover clones?

A: At least 5 institutions, with a proposal that could bring in 2 more.

Q: What do I do if my station does not provide meaningful support to this project?

A: Need to work on having this project recognized as a priority within each station. If O₃ effects are part of air quality, and air quality is recognized as being a high priority social concern, then scientists need to work to identify local groups who are setting priorities and establish links to those groups (i.e., answer the question, "What is the value of NE-176 work to society, as expressed by these groups.")

Q: What about the principle outcome of "construction of a first-order predictive model for plant response to ambient O₃..."?

A: Mulchi looking for a student to work on assimilating existing data toward this purpose. Heagle already has a Ph.D. student (statistician) working on modeling.. C. Mulchi will take lead in seeking additional modeling expertise (advanced graduate student or Post- doc). Group has disparate sources of data, on clover, soybeans, etc.; can they be productively tied together to serve group interests? What are commonalities that might make modeling a useful tool for unified work? This is an important question for the group to address in the coming year.

Discussion of primary factors that affect O₃ response (Objective 2).

There is interest in role of other stressors (e.g., Colorado potato beetle, bean beetles, pine insects, etc.) interacting with O₃ stress. EPA put $79K into Michigan forest gypsy moth / O₃ project. John Lawrence (Boyce Thompson) has been working with models of growth on native vegetation as affected by CO₂.

Q: Other interest in Chappelka's work on whole system response in successional systems? A: Some from J. Rebbeck and Manning, perhaps.

Discussion of mechanism of O₃ action and plant defense systems (Objective 3).

Discussion about degree of collaboration. Appears to be good interactions (Zilinskas and Mulchi, for example), linking molecular biologist (Zilinskas) with plant physiologist.

M. Robinson stressed the importance of being able to identify at least a few specific biochemical or physiological pathways that are critical mechanisms conferring resistance or susceptibility. Chappelka suggested that K. Davis (Ohio State) can make some definite contributions here.

Meeting date and place: January 5 -7, Beltsville; details to be arranged by Britz.

Adjourned: 10:45 a.m.

NE-176 Annual Meeting Minutes 1995 - 2002

Meeting Date: May 18-19, 1998

Location: Log Lodge, USDA-ARS Visitors Center, Beltsville, MD

Steve Britz, chair

Attendees: Chris Bergweiler (University of Massachusetts), Steve Britz (USDA-ARS-BARC), Kent Burkey (USDA-ARS, Raleigh, NC), Boris Chevone (Virginia Tech), Robin Huettel (USDA-CSREES), Ed Lee (USDA-ARS-BARC), Margaret McGrath (Cornell University), Charles Mulchi (University of Maryland), Mike Robinson (USDA-ARS-BARC), Judy Sinn (Pennsylvania State University).

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 AM on Monday May 18, 1998. Following introductions, Charles Mulchi was elected as the 1998-1999 Chair and Ed Lee as the recording secretary for the 1998 meeting.

Patrick Logan (Administrative Advisor, University of Rhode Island) could not attend as the result of last minute problems with travel connections. An e-mail from Patrick Logan to Steve Britz contained a list of items for consideration that generated the following discussion and action. (1) The group approved the establishment of a web site to be administered by Pat Logan. (2) Discussion of difficulties associated with NE-176 meeting attendance did not identify any specific factors. Coordination of 1999 meeting with the Air Pollution Workshop in Corvallis, OR was discussed, but no action taken. (3) NE-176 project must be re-written in 1999 in advance of 2000 deadline.

The NE-176 Annual Report for 1997 was reviewed. The only change noted was to list Robin Huettel as the USDA-CSREES representative.

The draft of a letter of appreciation to Jack Barnes was reviewed.

Robin Huettel (USDA-CSREES Advisor) lead a discussion on several topics: (1) General discussion of the Farm Bill with a specific focus on the Fund for Rural America as a possible source of special grants to support air pollution research. (2) Increase visibility of NE-176 by publishing an article in Phytopathology News or other journal outlining goals and accomplishments of the group. (3) Possible establishment of student travel grant (to Air Pollution Workshop?) in the name of Jack Barnes.

Following presentation of Station Reports, the group toured the USDA-ARS-BARC greenhouses and Controlled Environment Facility.

The group re-assembled in the Log Lodge at 8:30 AM on Tuesday May 19 and discussed the following items:

Ambient Air Quality Standards

R. Huettel to examine CSREES contacts with EPA to determine if NE-176 research is positioned well to have an impact.

Cooperative Research within NE-176

Identify potential project with ties to multiple locations. Possibilities include: (1) clover project with NC-S and NC-R, (2) snap bean indicator system.

Status of Grant

Annual reports need to show more collaboration.

Need greater participation in the annual meeting.

Deadline for new NE-176 proposal is in 2000. Need to establish a re-write committee and obtain an instruction book with new project guidelines.

Possible early January 1999 meeting to consider a draft of the new proposal.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 noon.

NE-176 Annual Meeting Minutes 1995 - 2002

Meeting Date: May 18-19, 1999

Location: University of Maryland, College Park, MD

Attendees:

Patrick Logan Administrative Advisor for NE-176	University of Rhode Island Kingston, RI
David MacKenzie Northeast Regional Administrators	University of Maryland College Park, MD
Steve Britz, USDA-ARS	Climate Stress Lab Beltsville, MD
Mike Robinson, USDA-ARS	Climate Stress Lab Beltsville, MD
Sagar Krupa	University of Minnesota St. Paul, MN
William J. Manning	University of Massachusetts Amherst, MA
Judy Sinn	Pennsylvania State University University Park, PA
Kent O. Burkey, USDA-ARS	Air Quality-Plant Growth & Development Research Unit Raleigh, NC
Fitz Booker, USDA-ARS	Air Quality-Plant Growth & Development Research Unit Raleigh, NC
Barbara Zilinskas	Rutgers University New Brunswick, NJ
Boris Chevone	Virginia Tech, VPI & SU Blacksburg, VA
Henry F. Tyrrell	USDA-CSREES Washington, DC
Moon Kim	University of Maryland College Park, MD
Charles L. Mulchi	University of Maryland

Following the introduction of the participants, Patrick Logan and David MacKenzie reviewed the changes being discussed within USDA regarding Regional Projects in view of the 1998 Farm Bill. NE-176 appears to feature many of the characteristics being stressed. For example, this project features: multi-state collaboration and is essentially a national project; has integrated activities with respect to research and extension; has multi-disciplinary research involving both field crops and native species; and has both basic and applied emphases and has excellent Federal and State partnerships in several areas. The area upon which NE-176 needs to expand is reaching stakeholders via such activities as web sites which summarize information on such questions as visual characteristics of pollutant injury to plants, loss of productivity associated with pollutant exposures, cultivar sensitivity information, economic information, pollution management or avoidance, list of current reports available, etc. for the various activities which we span.

Additional changes being discussed include a simplification of project proposals and reporting of annual results. The group was encouraged to draft a new project proposal rather than to seek an extension or re-working of the current plans of organization for this project. This new project should be structured along the guidelines outlined by David MacKenzie regarding multi-state research projects. It should clearly identify the linkages between the research and extension activities. In this regard, we are fortunate to already have Meg McGrath’s participation in extension, and we should give consideration to other such opportunities that may exist within our member institutions.

Following the May 18^th discussion of changes in guidelines for multi-state research projects, individual participants presented their institutional reports.

Elections were held with the following individuals being selected:

1990-00 Chair - Kent Burkey (will select 2000 host site)

Project Revision Committee:

Sagar Krupa - Chair

Boris Chevone - Biochemistry and Genetics

Charles Mulchi - Field Research

Meg McGrath - Extension Activities

Following the elections, the group was addressed by Henry Tyrrell, USDA-CSREES on the UV-B monitoring network that is being operated by USDA through Colorado State University. There are some twenty sites located throughout the USA that will monitor UV-B on a continuous basis. The data are to be downloaded nightly and made available to investigators via email. Contact Daniel Jones (Tel: 202-401-6854; e-mail: ddjones@reeusda.gov) for further details.

The meeting was adjourned at 12:00 noon, May 19, 1999.

NE-176 Annual Meeting Minutes 1995 - 2002

Meeting Date: January 8-9, 2000

Location: Rutgers University (Cook College), New Brunswick, NJ

Kent O. Burkey, 1999-2000 Chair

Barbara Zilinskas, Local Host

Meeting Participants: Margaret McGrath (Cornell University), Barbara Zilinskas (Rutgers University), Charles Mulchi (University of Maryland), Rosemary Zaleski (Exxon Biomedical Sciences), Mike Robinson (USDA-ARS-BARC), Boris Chevone (Virginia Tech), Judy Sinn (Pennsylvania State University), Kent Burkey (USDA-ARS, Raleigh, NC), Steve Britz (USDA-ARS-BARC), Sagar Krupa (University of Minnesota), Dan Rossi (Rutgers University), Daniel Jones (USDA-CSREES), and Patrick Logan (University of Rhode Island).

The meeting was called to order at 8:30 AM on Saturday January 8, 2000. Following introductions, the group was welcomed by Dr. Dan Rossi, the Associate Director of the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, who gave an overview of Rutgers University and Cook College history as well as a description of selected agricultural programs in New Jersey.

Proposal Renewal: Work on the draft NE-176 renewal document began with a discussion facilitated by P. Logan (Administrative Advisor for NE-176) on the emerging guidelines for integration of research and extension and the requirement to identify stakeholders. D. Rossi commented that the intent of Congress is to more closely link research to users. The relevance of research results must be extended beyond scientific peers. D. Jones (CSREES Advisor) who had recently reviewed new 5-year plans of work from other Stations stated that the best plans have stakeholders and impacts clearly defined. P. Logan provided further comments on stakeholders, target audience identification, and distinctions between results and outcomes. Results are the normal activities of research that are translated into a lasting contribution to human knowledge. Results are the tangible return on public investment. Outcomes describe the significance of the results, showing how the public will benefit from the new knowledge.

S. Krupa led the specific discussion of the draft proposal. Expected Results and Expected Impacts under Performance Goals (section 4) were discussed in terms of the level of detail required. P. Logan and D. Jones suggested the current format (broad statements without details) most closely follows the emerging guidelines for new proposal preparation. P. Logan will check with Northeast Experiment Station Directors on this point. More information on experimental design and methods will be added later if required. Expected Result number (ix) will be added to address issues of species fitness, community structure and biodiversity. More detail is needed on Target Audiences (section 7) and associated tangible outcomes for each Expected Result. The group was encouraged to provide additional information on target audiences and outcomes to S. Krupa via e-mail by 01-17-2000.

The group committed to establishment of an Internet Web Page with linkages to agricultural extension across the country. P. Logan will ask Northeast Experiment Station Directors for financial assistance to support the web page. S. Krupa and M. McGrath will work on popular article for Plant Disease to review the history, accomplishments and future directions of NE-176. The final item related to the proposal was integration of qualitative and quantitative research results. Discussion centered on a flow chart developed by S. Krupa that linked plant ozone responses across conceptual levels from the molecular to the ecological. Integration of results will require more frequent exchanges of information between members of group. S. Krupa will modify the proposal based on group discussions and written comments. NE-176 members will have an opportunity to review the revised proposal before submission on 02-01-2000. Potential outside reviewers of the proposal: Jay Garner, Andrzej Bytnerowicz, Jurgen Jaeger, and David Grantz.

Station reports were then presented.

Other Business:

The group discussed a potential collaborative project for studying plant responses to chronic ozone exposure under field conditions. S. Krupa will develop the first draft of an experimental protocol using ozone-sensitive and tolerant snap beans. The objective would be to collect common data sets across multiple locations of varying ozone profiles to develop plant response models.

S. Krupa was elected NE-176 Chair for 2000-2001.

The group discussed plans for our next meeting. S. Krupa offered to be our host. The proposed time and place are a weekend during May 2001 in Stillwater, MN.

M. Robinson nominated Patricia Conklin (Boyce Thompson Institute) and S. Krupa nominated Andrzej Bytnerowicz (USDA Forest Service) for membership in NE-176. Both nominations were given unanimous support. P. Logan will send letters of invitation.

The annual meeting was adjourned at 12:00 noon.

NE-176 Annual Meeting Minutes 1995 - 2002

Meeting Date: June 2-3, 2001

Location: Clarion Hotel, Bloomington, MN

Sagar Krupa, chair

Attendees: K.O. Burkey (USDA-ARS, Raleigh, NC), F.L. Booker (USDA-ARS, Raleigh, NC), A.H. Chappelka (Auburn U), B.I. Chevone (VPI & SU), D.A. Grantz (UC, Riverside), S. Krupa (U of Minnesota), Margaret McGrath (Cornell U), W.J. Manning (U of Massachusetts), C.L. Mulchi (U of Maryland), H.S. Neufeld (Appalachian State U, NC), R.C. Seem (Cornell U, Administrative Advisor), J.M. Skelly (Pennsylvania State U), B. Zilinskas (Rutgers U)

Minutes:

After welcome by Sagar Krupa and introductions of the attendees, Bob Seem reviewed the status of the project renewal proposal and offered comments as to what changes need to be made and how to follow the CSREES guidelines.

The Experiment Station Administrators who will be reviewing the revised proposal are: Bob Seem, Mark Mount (University of Massachusetts) and Paul Backman (Pennsylvania State University).

Bob Seem made the following comments:

• As the proposal stands, it has too many objectives. These need to be consolidated into a statement format. Specific objectives as stated now should be listed as "activities".
• The proposal should address the different audiences: Educators, Regulators and Commodity groups.
• The emphasis should address "Stakeholders" and extension/outreach.
• Similarly, there needs to be an emphasis on the role and technical contribution of the project in providing database for revising the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Ozone (US.EPA and the Congress).
• There needs to be an emphasis on collaboration among the scientists within the project. Likewise parallel international programs and collaborators who would be interested in NE-176 need to be identified (suggested names include Heinrich Sandermann, GSF, Munich; Alan Davison, U of Newcastle; Markus Schaub, Swiss Federal Research Inst. Forestry, Tomás Hernandez, Mexico, Roger Cox, Canada).
• Address NE. US issues, but maintain the national identity.
• Members need to publicize their work better.
• In addition, Bob suggested that the members consider preparing a popular brochure emphasizing the importance of ozone and its effects on vegetation (crops, trees and native plants).

The following members have the responsibility for:

· Proposal revision: Sagar Krupa, Boris Chevone, John Skelly (Sagar Krupa is the Coordinator). Plan is to prepare the revision either for the August (2001) or February (2002) Expt. Sta. Directors meeting. After the initial revision is made, it will be circulated to all members for final comments.

· In this context, John Skelly, Meg McGrath, Dave Grantz and Chuck Mulchi agreed to contribute to the outreach component in the proposal revision.

· Brochure preparation: Dave Grantz, Meg McGrath, Boris Chevone, John Skelly and Bill Manning (John Skelly and Bill Manning are the coordinators). Plan is to prepare the draft of the brochure for circulation among the members for comments by December 1, 2001. Initially the brochure will be put-up on the Web site operated by USDA-CSREES.

Bob Seem will be (already has) sending the CSREES guidelines for proposal renewal to all the members.

Individual members provided short summaries (Annual Reports) of their research, followed by vigorous discussions in many instances. These will be reflected in the Annual Report (to be submitted shortly).

There was discussions regarding:

• A collaborative project using two cultivars of bean (tolerant and sensitive) to study the effects of ambient ozone in different parts of the US on their growth and productivity. Kent Burkey will provide seeds to participating individuals (7 institutions within NE-176), so that they can grow the two cultivars for the next two summers and become familiar with their ago-biology. Subsequently all participants will follow common protocols in the chamber-less, ambient experimental studies to establish the relationships between ozone, other growth regulating factors (e.g. air temperature, soil moisture, nutrients) and crop response.

• Bill Manning agreed to report on their initial experience from test studies that are already in progress at U. Mass. The same is true for Kent Burkey at USDA-ARS, Raleigh.

• A second collaborative project was discussed. This relates to the interactions between ambient ozone - milkweed (a highly sensitive plant to ozone) - Monarch butterfly (milkweed is the host). Tim Lewis (US.EPA) is very interested in this subject and there may be research funding, the work being coordinated by NE-176, with several of its members participating.

• John Skelly is the coordinator for developing a research proposal. In coordination with Tim Lewis (US.EPA and a nominee to join NE-176), John is setting-up a meeting in Raleigh, NC to discuss the research and preparation of the proposal for funding consideration.

• Bob Seem suggested that these two efforts (5 a & b) be included in the proposal revision under, "Developmental Activities" to emphasize intra- NE-176 membership collaborative research.

The next NE-176 Technical Meeting will take place in Amherst, MA. Bill Manning is the local host.

Meeting was adjourned at 12:00 p.m.

NE-176 Annual Meeting Minutes 1995 - 2002

Meeting Date: May 9-10, 2002

Location: Amherst, MA

Attendees: Sagar Krupa (Univ. of MN, Chairman); Fitz Booker (USDA-ARS, NC State Univ.); Kent Burkey (USDA-ARS, NC State Univ.); Art Chappelka (Auburn Univ.); Boris Chevone (VPI & SU); David Grantz (Univ. of CA); Al Heagle (USDA-ARS, NC State Univ.); Bill Manning (Univ. of MA); Bahram Momen (Univ. of MD); Mark Mount (AES Associate Director, Univ. of MA); Charles Mulchi (Univ. of MD); Russ Muntifering (Auburn Univ.); Howard Neufeld (Appalachian State Univ.); Kevin Percy (Can. For. Service, NB); Mike Robinson (USDA-ARS, Beltsville, MD); Bob Seem (Cornell Univ. Geneva, Administrative Advisor) and John Skelly (Penn. State Univ.).

Others present for brief periods: Vahram Elagöz and Chris Bergweiler (both from Univ. of MA).

Meeting was started with self-introductions of the participants. New attendees to NE-176 were, Russ Muntifering (AL), Kevin Percy (NB-Canada) and Bahram Momen (MD). Bill Manning (local host) and Mark Mount (Associate Director, MA-AES) welcomed the participants.

Bob Seem (Administrative Advisor) reviewed the status of the renewal proposal. Currently, the proposal is in external review. External review comments are due by June 1. Comments may be found on NIMMS. If not Bob Seem or Sagar Krupa will provide copies to all the members. Responses to comments due from all the members to Sagar Krupa by June 7. Final version of the proposal to be sent to Bob Seem by Sagar Krupa on or before June 14.

Soon thereafter, Bob Seem is to sign off the proposal on NIMMS for the NE-Experiment Station Directors to read (In addition to Bob Seem, the readers are the two Directors respectively at New Hampshire and Rutgers).

Note: Appendix E in NIMMS has to be filled-in before June 1. For those members from the Agricultural Experiment Stations, the Appendix has to be entered into NIMMS by the Experiment Station Director’s Office staff. For those members that are not from the Agricultural Experiment Stations, please supply the information to Bob Seem. If there are any questions, please contact S. Krupa by E-mail.

One page Annual Reports for the calendar year 2001 are due from each member (new members excused) to Sagar Krupa by June 1. (normal Annual CSREES Report submitted to the Experiment Stations is acceptable or Appendix to these minutes contains an example).

Individual participants in the project presented the results of their research during the previous calendar year, followed by vigorous discussions. These activities will be summarized in the 2001 Annual Report to be submitted during July 2002.

Dave Grantz felt that the NE-176 members, as a group should take a strong position and attack key scientific questions relevant to ozone. Currently US EPA does not have a specific ambient air quality standard to protect vegetation. EPA has simply adapted the human health effects standard as the “vegetation effects” standard, because of the inadequate data supplied by the plant scientists. Associated with that are issues such as the use of “open-top chambers” from which results cannot be simply extrapolated to the “chamber-less” ambient conditions.

It was agreed that a position paper should be written highlighting the key scientific issues, gaps and needed research to derive a scientifically sound ambient air quality (Ozone) standard to protect vegetation. Such an effort should also emphasize the need for funding to conduct the needed research activities. The position paper should be published in a peer reviewed international journal. Members should offer suggestions to S. Krupa by the first week of June as to potential journals.

In addition to matters immediately relevant to ozone and vegetation, the position paper should include write-up on two related items: a. Human health effects, and b. Maximizing C sequestration in vegetation, by reducing ambient ozone exposures and thus, mitigating the negative effects of ozone off setting the positive effects of elevated CO₂. S. Krupa to prepare and circulate the “DRAFT” position paper to all by July 1 for comments. Soon thereafter, revisions to be made and the paper submitted to a peer reviewed journal for possible publication.

There was a discussion of the NE-176 group’s participation in regard to the EPA’s interest in developing an “Ozone-Milkweed-Monarch butterfly” study. At this point EPA does not have any funding and thus, interested scientists, as a group should look for ways to obtain support elsewhere (e.g., NSF). It was concluded that at the moment there are no data on the interactions, with the exception of one CSTR study at Boyce Thompson Institute. Some of the NE-176 participants such as Chappelka, Mulchi, Neufeld and Skelly are starting to explore the problem. As a group they will establish a dialog among themselves and report their findings at the next NE-176 technical meeting.

Chris Bergweiler reported that a report would be forthcoming on the EPA’s Workshop on the “Monarch butterfly”, previously held in Raleigh, NC.

There was also a lengthy discussion on the proposed NE-176 cooperative project on snap bean cultivars (tolerant and sensitive) and yield effects of ozone under ambient conditions. Those who can participate in the field study are: Kent Burkey / Fitz Booker USDA – NC), Boris Chevone (VA) , Dave Grantz (CA), Bill Manning (MA), Meg McGrath (NY), Charles Mulchi (MD) and Mike Robinson (USDA – MD). Sagar Krupa (MN) will participate in the modeling of the cause-effect relationships.

Vahram Elagöz (Bill Manning’s PhD Student), Kent Burkey and Charles Mulchi presented their initial results of working with bean cultivars this previous year and/or summer.

After a lengthy discussion of several aspects of the field study such as experimental design, how to manage the crop, data needs on independent variables and what plant response measures to use, how and when to collect them, it was decided that initially only single point, harvest data (not multi-point growth data) will be collected for modeling purposes to see how the program works, before getting into a larger project.

Kent Burkey agreed to prepare a DRAFT protocol on the study by May 20 and circulate it to all parties involved. Review comments are need by May 27 to Kent Burkey. These rather very short deadlines are needed for people to get started during the coming growth season.

New officers were elected, effective July 1, 2001 (two-year terms):

Chairman - Fitz Booker (USDA-ARS, NC)

Vice-Chairman - Howard Neufeld (Appalachian State University, NC)

Secretary - Boris Chevone (VA)

The next Annual Technical Committee Meeting (2003) will be held at the USDA-ARS facility in Raleigh (Booker).

During 2004, the meeting is scheduled for Parlier, CA (Kearney Agricultural Experiment Station, Grantz).

The meeting was adjourned following a special vote of appreciation to Al Heagle for his many contributions to the science of air pollution and plant effects and for his continued participation over the many years in NE-176 and in its forerunners. Al has expressed his intent to retire within the next year.

APPENDIX

An Example of an Annual Report.

Title: Must be the same as the current NE-176 Title (Characterization and Mechanisms of Plant Responses to Ozone (O3) in the Northeastern US)

Name of the Investigator: S.V. Krupa

Institution: Agricultural Experiment Station, Minnesota

Period: 01-01-2001 to 12-31-2001

Objective: Must be the same as one or more of the objectives in the NE-176 proposal (from the current and not the renewal proposal)

Example - Characterize whole plant responses to ozone, including carbon assimilation and allocation, growth and productivity.

Progress Report (Do not exceed 1600 characters)

In ecological effects research, there is a rapid increase in the application of passive sampling techniques for measuring ambient ozone (O₃) concentrations. Passive samplers provide data on cumulative exposures of a plant to a pollutant. However, O₃ is not an accumulative contaminant within the plant tissue and use of prolonged passive sampling durations cannot account for the dynamics of the occurrences of O₃ that have a significant influence on the plant response. Therefore, a stochastic Weibull probability model was developed and applied to a site in Washington State (1650 m MSL) to simulate the cumulative exposure data from a passive sampler to mimic the corresponding frequency distributions of hourly O₃ concentrations that would otherwise have been obtained by continuous monitoring. The simulation of the hourly ozone data was based on and compared with the results obtained from a co-located continuous monitor. At that site the initial correlation between the actual weekly average values from the passive sampler and the corresponding continuous monitor data was, R² = 0.74.

Subsequently the model was applied to data from an unrelated monitoring site (New Hampshire, 476 m MSL) showing poor initial correlation between the actual average values from co-located passive sampling and the co-located continuous monitoring (R² = 0.24). In spite of the major difference in the R² values, at both sites the simulation provided very satisfactory results of the frequency distributions of the synthetic hourly ozone concentrations, in comparison to the actual continuously measured, within the 95% confidence interval, suggesting the robustness and broad applicability of the model. The final objective of this overall approach is to develop a generic model that can simulate reasonably well, the occurrences of ambient O₃ concentrations that are dependent upon the elevation of the measurement site and the synoptic and local meteorology. Such an effort would extend the relative utility of the passive sampling data in explaining stochastic plant responses on a regional scale.

Impact

This work is still in its growing stages and therefore, its societal impact, output to target audience and the outcome cannot be gauged as yet. However, it has the potential to verify the regional scale validity of ambient air quality regulations.

Publications