Crop loss from air pollutants and injury to forest trees assessment program. Final status report

Technical Report · Mon Apr 01 04:00:00 EST 1991

OSTI ID:6940986

Thompson, C R; Kats, G; Mutters, R G; Poe, M

Yield loss estimates from ozone for 52 different agricultural crops on a county-wide basis for California were made for 1987 and 1988. Compared to expected yields in clean air, losses ranged between 0 and 63 percent. A field survey in 1990 indicated that leaf injury and defoliation were more pronounced in southern portions of the San Joaquin Valley, and an east-to-west gradient in losses also occurred. Some of the crop losses occurring in 1988 air quality were alfalfa, 1.3-11.1%; beans, 0-34%; cotton, 6-45%; grapes,25-31%; onions, 4-20%; oranges, 11-63%; potatoes, 10-20%; rice, 3-7%; sugar beets, 0-9%; tomatoes, 2-22%; and wheat, 0.7-16%. The report includes an extensive bibliography of the effect of air pollution on forest vegetation; no satisfactory models exist for assessing losses to the 21 host tree species listed as 'moderately or very sensitive' to air pollution. Monthly 7- and 12-hour ozone averages indicate that valuable commercial timber species in the forests in El Dorado, Placer, Riverside, San Bernardino, and San Diego counties experience the highest levels of exposures to air pollution, and the absence of monitoring sites hinders the assessment of the risk to Southern Sierra Nevada forests, which are downwind of urban and industrial conifers.

• Research Organization: California Univ., Riverside, CA (United States). Statewide Air Pollution Research Center
• OSTI ID: 6940986
• Report Number(s): PB-94-216983/XAB; CNN: ARB-A833-138
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

09 BIOMASS FUELS
090700* -- Biomass Fuels-- Resources-- (1990-)
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
540120 -- Environment
Atmospheric-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
540220 -- Environment
Terrestrial-- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport-- (1990-)
DAMAGE
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
FORESTS
OZONE