Effects of Climate Change and Ozone Concentration on the Net Primary Productivity of Forests in South Korea

Abstract

Tropospheric ozone impacts the health and productivity of forest ecosystems. The concentration of ozone on Earth will increase in the future, particularly in China and its neighboring countries, including Korea, due to a projected rise in nitrogen dioxide and ozone precursors as a result of China's emissions. This study aims to estimate the effect of changes in ozone concentration and climate change on the forests in Korea, based on expected nitrogen dioxide emissions in Korea and China in the future. To do this, we developed an empirical model that represents the statistical relationship between the net primary productivity (NPP) of the forests and ozone concentration using historical data; and, estimated the future NPP of the forests under future ozone concentration scenarios based on nitrogen dioxide emissions of the Shared Socioeconomic Pathway (SSP) scenarios. The analysis suggests that the ozone concentration begin exerting effects to the NPP, about 68.10 tC/km 2 /year decrement per 0.01 ppm increment. We estimated that the NPP of Korean forests has been reduced by 8.25% due to the current concentration of ozone, and the damage is estimated to increase to a range between 8.47% and 10.55% in the 2050s, and between 5.85% and 11.15% in the 2090s depending on the scenarios.

Discrepancies between Global Forest Net Primary Productivity Estimates Derived from MODIS and Forest Inventory Data and Underlying Factors

“…Forest productivity is an essential indicator for gauging the capacity of a forest to provide an array of ecosystem services. In addition to the provisions of timber, water, and biodiversity, forests play an important role in the global carbon cycle by absorbing and storing carbon dioxide through photosynthesis [1][2][3], and account for about half of the carbon stocks stored in terrestrial ecosystems [4]. As a result, interest in forest carbon uptake and storage has been increasing in recent years [5][6][7][8].…”

“…One subset of these studies has employed model-based methods for estimating the NPP [14][15][16]. These model-based methods often involve the use of data collected from flux towers [17,18], remote sensing devices [19,20], and other sources [2,9,14,21]. On the other hand, the traditional forest inventory method, which involves statistical sampling and inferences, is still commonly used in forest resource assessments at the country level [22,23].…”

“…Researchers have also examined the factors, mainly biophysical variables, which are potentially attributable to NPP or NPP estimates [2,16,21,27]. Among these factors are terrain, soil, fire, and weather [28][29][30][31][32].…”

Effects of Elevated Temperature and Ozone in Brassica juncea L.: Growth, Physiology, and ROS Accumulation

“…The O 3 concentration specially in East Asia has risen steeply due to anthropogenic gas emission from China's rapid economic growth and industrial development. For instance, in Korea, the O 3 concentration has doubled over the last three decades [9]. Furthermore, since the release of O 3 and its precursors from China are predicted to increase in the future, the O 3 concentration in Korea will also continue to rise [10].…”