Forest health and ozone
- ed.
This report reviews the potential role of ozone in forest decline in the United States. Recent studies suggest that forest decline, not clearly identifiable from natural causes, is occurring in eastern North America and central Europe. Ozone, because of its known effects on white pine and certain crop species, is being investigated as one factor possibly contributing to the perceived forest decline. Results to date indicate various factors may contribute to forest decline and that the specific combinations differ from site to site. The visible effects of ozone on trees produced in some laboratory experiments have, to date, not been confirmed in field experiments. Only the Ponderosa pine forests in the San Bernardino mountains of Southern California have exhibited confirmed visual damage from ambient ozone exposures. New hypotheses, based on field case studies in the eastern United States, suggest that ozone may be contributing to productivity declines in forests without visible damage symptoms. The role of ozone in forest decline is the subject of rapidly expanding research efforts, at EPRI and in federal, state and forest industry research organizations. This report provides a critical review of the published, peer-reviewed literature on the relation between ozone and forest health. It also summarizes the current state of knowledge on ozone's effects on plants and outlines areas of research under investigation.
- Research Organization:
- Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
- OSTI ID:
- 6599942
- Report Number(s):
- EPRI-EA-5135-SR; ON: TI87920394
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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