Clones of aspen (Populus tremuloides Michx.) were identified that differ in biomass production in response to O(3) exposure. (14)Carbon tracer studies were used to determine if the differences in biomass response were linked to shifts in carbon allocation and carbon partitioning patterns. Rooted cuttings from three aspen Clones (216, O(3) tolerant; 271, intermediate; and 259, O(3) sensitive) were exposed to either charcoal-filtered air (CF) or an episodic, two-times-ambient O(3) profile (2x) in open-top chambers. Either recently mature or mature leaves were exposed to a 30-min (14)C pulse and returned to the treatment chambers for a 48-h chase period before harvest. Allocation of (14)C to different plant parts, partitioning of (14)C into various chemical fractions, and the concentration of various chemical fractions in plant tissue were determined. The percent of (14)C retained in recently mature source leaves was not affected by O(3) treatment, but that retained in mature source leaves was greater in O(3)-treated plants than in CF-treated plants. Carbon allocation from source leaves was affected by leaf position, season, clone and O(3) exposure. Recently mature source leaves of CF-treated plants translocated about equal percentages of (14)C acropetally to growing shoots and basipetally to stem and roots early in the season. When shoot growth ceased (August 16), most (14)C from all source leaves was translocated basipetally to stem and roots. At no time did mature source leaves allocate more than 6% of (14)C translocated within the plant to the shoot above. Ozone effects were most apparent late in the season. Ozone decreased the percent (14)C translocated from mature source leaves to roots and increased the percent (14)C translocated to the lower stem. In contrast, allocation from recently mature leaves to roots increased. Partitioning of (14)C among chemical fractions was affected by O(3) more in source leaves than in sink tissue. In source leaves, more (14)C was incorporated into the sugar, organic acid and lipids + pigments fractions, and less (14)C was incorporated into starch and protein fractions in O(3)-treated plants than in CF-treated plants. In addition, there were O(3) treatment interactions between leaf position and clones for (14)C incorporation into different chemical fractions. When photosynthetic data were used to convert percent (14)C transported to the total amount of carbon transported on a mass basis, it was found that carbon transport was controlled more by photosynthesis in the source leaves than proportional changes in allocation to the sinks. Ozone decreased the total amount of carbon translocated to all sink tissue in the O(3)-sensitive Clone 259 because of decreases in photosynthesis in both recently mature and mature source leaves. In contrast, O(3) had no effect on carbon transport from recently mature leaves to lower shoots of either Clone 216 or 271, had no significant effect on transport to roots of Clone 216, and increased transport to roots of Clone 271. The O(3)-induced increase in transport to roots of Clone 271 was the result of a compensatory increase in upper leaf photosynthesis and a relatively greater shift in the percent of carbon allocated to roots. In contrast to those of Clone 271, recently mature leaves of Clone 216 maintained similar photosynthetic rates and allocation patterns in both the CF and O(3) treatments. We conclude that Clone 271 was more tolerant to O(3) exposure than Clone 216 or 259. Tolerance to chronic O(3) exposure was directly related to maintenance of high photosynthetic rates in recently mature leaves and retention of lower leaves.