Proceedings of the International Symposium on Air Pollution and Climate Change Effects on Forest Ecosystems

Abstract

Industrial air pollution has been identified as one of the primary causes of severe damage to forests of central Europe in the past 30 to 40 years. The mountain forest ecosystems have been affected considerably, resulting in extensive areas of severely deteriorated forest stands (e.g., the Krusne Hory of the Czech Republic or the Izerske and Sudety Mountains along the Polish and Czech border). In addition, the increase of motor vehicles in central Europe has caused a higher amount of nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbon emissions. Under particular weather conditions (high solar radiation, high temperatures, temperature inversions), these compounds may undergo complex chemical transformations resulting in the formation of photochemical smog and a buildup of potentially phytotoxic ozone concentrations. Ozone has already been responsible for injury to ponderosa pine stands in the San Bernardino Mountains in southern California and to forest vegetation in the eastern United States and western Europe. Elevated concentrations of nitrogenous components in photochemical smog and the emissions of ammonia from agricultural activities have caused eutrophication of natural ecosystems, including forests, both in Europe and North America. In addition, changing climatic factors, especially the amount of precipitation, temperature and solar radiation (including ultraviolet-B), modify responses of plants to air pollution, and must be considered when these effects are evaluated.

Titles contained within Proceedings of the International Symposium on Air Pollution and Climate Change Effects on Forest Ecosystems

• Biochemical reactions of ozone in plants
• Oxidant induced alteration of carbohydrate production and allocation in plants
• The use of plants as bioindicators of ozone
• State of Polish mountain forests: past, present, and future
• Ozone injury responses of ponderosa and Jeffrey pine in the Sierra Nevada and San Bernardino Mountains in California
• Ozone air pollution in the Ukrainian Carpathian Mountains and Kiev region
• Ozone monitoring in the Krakow Province, southern Poland
• Ozone in the Upper Silesia region -- concentration and effects on plants
• Ozone concentrations at the Bulgarian Govedartsi ecosystem site in early summer of 1994 and 1995
• Ozone and modeled stomatal conductance at a high elevation subalpine site in southeastern Wyoming
• Bulgarian Rila mountain forest ecosystems study site: site description and SO₄^2-, NO₃^- deposition
• Fire in Siberian boreal forests -- implications for global climate and air quality
• Nutrient fluxes in forests of the eastern Sierra Nevada: comparisons with humid forest systems
• Concentrations and deposition of nitrogenous air pollutants in a ponderosa/Jeffrey pine canopy
• Predicting nitrogen flux along a vertical canopy gradient in a mixed conifer forest stand of the San Bernardino Mountains in California
• Indicators of nitrogen status in California forests
• Nitrogen deposition effects on coastal sage vegetation of southern California
• Transect studies on pine forests along parallel 52° north, 12-32° east and along a pollution gradient in Poland: general assumptions
• Geographical differentiation of the floristic composition and structure of the herb layer of forest permanent plots in East Germany, Poland, and Belarus
• Herb layer diversity and phytoindicative evaluation of habitat conditions of forest permanent plots in Poland
• Spatial and vertical distribution of soil physico-chemical properties and the content of heavy metals in the pedosphere in Poland
• Transect studies on pine litter organic matter: decomposition and chemical properties of upper soil layers in Polish forests
• Geographic Information System (GIS) analysis of ecosystem response to industrial pollution in the Niepolomice Forest in southern Poland
• Chemical composition of needles and cambial activity of stems of Scots pine trees affected by air pollutants in Polish forests
• Ectomycorrhizae of young and mature Scots pine trees in industrial regions in Poland
• Impact of urban environmental pollution on growth, leaf damage, and chemical constituents of Warsaw urban trees
• Seasonal influences on ozone uptake and foliar injury to ponderosa and Jeffrey pines at a southern California site
• Effect of ozone exposure on seasonal gas exchange of five western conifers
• Mature ponderosa pine nutrient use and allocation responses to air pollution
• Assessment of forest quality in southwestern Poland with the use of remotely sensed data
• Response of Scots pine stand vitality to changes in environmental factors in Poland, 1991-1995
• Air pollution and forest health studies along a south-north transect in Poland
• Forest health status in Russia
• Air pollution and climate change effects on health of the Ukrainian forests: monitoring and evaluation
• Forest condition in Latvia
• Forest health monitoring and forestry implications in the Czech Republic
• Dynamics of forest health status in Slovakia from 1987 to 1994
• Forest health status in Hungary
• Forest health monitoring indicators and their interpretability: a Lithuanian case study
• Photosynthetically active radiation measurements in pure pine and mixed pine forests in Poland
• Remote sensing applied to resource management

Citation

Bytnerowicz, Andrzej; Arbaugh, Michael J.; Schilling, Susan L., technical coordinators. 1998. Proceedings of the International Symposium on Air Pollution and Climate Change Effects on Forest Ecosystems, February 5-9, 1996. Riverside, CA. Gen. Tech. Rep. PSW-GTR-166. Albany, CA: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Research Station. 332 p