Air Pollution and Ecosystems

In the concluding session of the symposium "Acid Deposition, a Challenge for Europe" held in Karlsruhe in September 1983, Dr. GINJAAR, the former Minister of Health and Environmental Protection of the Netherlands, emphasised the need for setting up a concerted research programme including the effects of air pollution on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems. The Council of Ministers of the European Community in 1984 adopted a revision of the 3rd Community Programme on Environment comprising contract research and concerted action in the field of the effects of air pollution in eco­ systems. These research areas were also introduced in the 4th R-D Community Programme on Environment, adopted by the Council of Ministers in 1986 and are subject again to contract research and concerted action. The Commission of the European Community is very concerned to increase the effectiveness of researcn projects carried out within the national programmes, and those undertaken at the Community level. The Commission tends to develop an integrated scientific approach, including not only the physico-chemical behaviour, the transport and the deposition of airborne pollutants but also the effects of these pollutants, in particular on living organisms and ecosystems. With regard to the specific issue of the effects, the Commission is trying to develop and strengthen a multi-disciplinary approach associating biologists, pathologists, eco­ physiologists, and specialists of soil sciences, within the concerted action, as well as within coordinated research projects.

Contenu

Opening Session.- Vize-Präsident der Kommission der Europäischen Gemeinschaften, Belgium.- Vice-President of the Commission of the European Communities, Belgium.- Vice-Président de la Commission des Communautés Européennes, Belgique.- Ministre délégué, chargé de l'Environnement.- Direction de l'Espace Rural et de la Forêt du Ministère de l'Agriculture.- Key Notes Speeches.- Ecosystems and their response to airborne chemicals : the current situation in North America and Europe.- Overview of the U.S. National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program.- Session I - Pollution Climates in Europe ; Deposition in Ecosystems.- Report on the session.- Les climats de pollution en Europe : caractérisation et classification.- Deposition of pollutants on plants and soils ; principles and pathways.- Critical loads for sulphur and nitrogen.- Regional ozone concentrations in Europe.- Session II - Effects of Air Pollution on Agricultural Crops.- Report on the session.- Etat des connaissances sur l'impact des polluants de l'air sur les productions agricoles et approches méthodologiques.- Interactions between air pollutants and other limiting factors.- Effects of ozone in ambient air on growth, yield and physiological parameters of spring wheat.- Effects of atmospheric pollutants on grassland ecosystems.- Airborne pollutant injury to vegetation in Greece.- Is plant resistance to air pollution related to plant resistance towards disease ?.- Session III - Effects of Air Pollution on Forest Trees and Forest Ecosystems.- I.- Report on the session.- Impact of air pollutants on above-ground plant parts of forest trees.- Direct effects of dry and wet deposition on forest ecosystems - in particular canopy interactions.- Tree responses to acid depositions into the soil. A summary of the COST workshop at Jülich 1985.- Experimentelle Untersuchungen zur Stoffauswaschung aus Baumkronen durch Saure Beregnung.- Effect of artificial rain on soil chemical properties and forest growth.- Effects of sulphur dioxide on forest litter decomposition and nutrient release.- Les recherches sur le déperissement des forêts en France: structure et principaux résultats du programme DEFORPA.- II.- Report on the session.- Note de synthèse sur les trois tournées en forêt effectuées le 20 mai 1987.- Recent developments in the diagnosis and quantification of forest decline.- Effects of H2O2 -containing acidic fog on young trees.- Effect of acidic mist on nutrient leaching, carbohydrate status and damage symptoms of Picea abies.- III.- Report on the session.- Methodological approaches : Part I : Experiments with open-top chambers : results, advantages and limitations.- Methodological aspects of the fumigation of forest trees with gaseous pollutants using closed chambers.- The methodology of open-field fumigation.- Session IV - Effects of Air Pollution on Aquatic Ecosystems.- Report on the session.- Acid deposition and surface water acidification : the use of lake sediments.- Acidification and ecophysiology of freshwater animals.- Reversibility of acidification.- Session V - Preventive and Curative Measures.- Report on the session Part 1 : Preventive and curative measures for terrestrials ecosystems, in particular forests.- Moyens préventifs et curatifs de lutte contre la pollution dans les ecosystèmes terrestres, en particulier les forêts.- Fertilization as a tool to remove "New type" forest damages.- Judgement of the applicability of liming to restabilise forest stands - with special consideration of root ecological aspects.- The effects of land management on acidification of aquatic ecosystems and the implications for the development of ameliorative measures.- Practical preventive and curative measures for aquatic ecosystems.- Poster Session.- Theme I - Pollution Climates in Europe ; Deposition in Ecosystems.- Caractérisation de l'environnement atmosphérique en zone forestière. Station Laboratoire du Donon.- Kleinräumige Verteilungsmuster der Stoffdeposition in naturnahen Waldökosystemen.- Spatial distribution of wet and dry sulphur deposition in the United Kingdom.- The mont Lozere catchments : an observatory of the atmospheric pollution background level.- Palynologische und forstgeschichtliche Aspekte zur Versauerungsgeschichte von Schwarzwaldseen.- The pollution climate of the Fichtelgebirge, Northern Bavaria.- Relief effects on the deposition of air pollutants in forest stands - lead deposition as an example.- Atmospheric deposition on semi-natural grassland vegetation.- Atmospheric nitrogen deposition in a forest next to an intensively used agricultural area.- Product analysis of the chemical/photochemical conversion of monoterpenes with airborne pollutants (O3/NO2).- Atmospheric inputs of cadmium to an arable agricultural system.- Etude du déperissement forestier en Belgique. Premier Bilan d'une année de récolte des précipitations à la station pilote de Vielsalm.- Atmospheric heavy metal deposition in Northern Europe measured by moss analyses.- Cryptogamic epiphytes as indicators of air quality investigative methods and results from four selected areas in Portugal.- Reaction and effect measurements in Bavaria with regard to forest damages.- Theme II - Diagnosis.- Adenine and pyridine nucleotides, and carbohydrates in healthy and deceased needles : alterations in relation to vegetation period (May to October 1985) and needle age (1979 to 1985).- Possible use of chlorophyll fluorescence in early detection of forest damages : influence of different criteria.- Fluorescence as a means of diagnosing the effect of pollutant induced stress in plants.- Rapid fingerprinting of damaged and undamaged conifer needles by soft ionization mass spectrometry and pattern recognition.- Comparative investigation on the nutrient composition of healthy and injured spruces of different locations.- Early diagnosis of forest decline - a pilot study.- Theme III - Effects of Air Pollution Acting on Above-Ground Parts of Plants and Ecosystems.- Estimation of the plant-related resistances determining the ozone flux to broad bean plants (vicia faba var metissa), after long-term exposure to ozone in an open top chamber.- Sulfur containing air pollutants and their effects on plant metabolism.- Analyse des mécanismes de transfert des particules à travers l'appareil stomatique.- Open-top chamber studies to assess the effects of sulphur dioxide and acid rain, singly or in combinati…