Evaluating risks to agricultural production from acid deposition

Conference · Wed Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1986

OSTI ID:6597097

Moskowitz, P D; Oden, N L; Medeiros, W H; Coveney, E A

Although it has been established that agricultural yields can be affected adversely by ozone and other air pollutants, the effects of existing levels of acid deposition on crops are less well understood. Evaluations of potential effects from growth chamber, greenhouse and field experiments have not identified any single crop as being consistently sensitive to acid deposition. Quantitative analysis of one crop (soybeans), which has demonstrated some sensitivity to acid deposition treatments in field settings, suggest that if current acid deposition levels are reduced by 50%, then US soybean production would increase by approximately 1%. These estimates are based on the fundamental assumption that estimated dose-response functions are homogeneous across biologic, geographic and temporal space; an assumption not supported by recently developed experimental data. As a result, confidence in this conclusion is weak.

• Research Organization: Brookhaven National Lab., Upton, NY (USA)
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-76CH00016
• OSTI ID: 6597097
• Report Number(s): BNL-39575; CONF-8611117-6; ON: DE87009141
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

500200* -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (-1989)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
560300 -- Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology
63 RADIATION, THERMAL, AND OTHER ENVIRON. POLLUTANT EFFECTS ON LIVING ORGS. AND BIOL. MAT.
ACID RAIN
AIR POLLUTION
ATMOSPHERIC PRECIPITATIONS
BACTERIA
BIOLOGICAL EFFECTS
CHALCOGENIDES
CROPS
FOOD
GLYCINE HISPIDA
LEGUMINOSAE
MICROORGANISMS
NAPAP
OXIDES
OXYGEN COMPOUNDS
OZONE
PLANTS
POLLUTION
PRODUCTIVITY
RAIN
RHIZOBIUM
RISK ASSESSMENT
SOYBEANS
SULFUR COMPOUNDS
SULFUR DIOXIDE
SULFUR OXIDES
VEGETABLES