Global Trends of Acidity in Rainfall and Its Impact on Plants and Soil

Abstract

Due to its deleterious and large-scale effects on the ecosystem and long-range transboundary nature, acid rain has attracted the attention of scientists and policymakers. Acid rain (AR) is a prominent environmental issue that has emerged in the last hundred years. AR refers to any form of precipitation leading to a reduction in pH to less than 5.6. The prime reasons for AR formation encompass the occurrence of sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), ozone (O 3 ), and organic acids in air produced by natural as well as anthropogenic activities. India, the top SO 2 emitter, also shows a continuous increase in NO 2 level responsible for AR formation. The plants being immobile unavoidably get exposed to AR which impacts the natural surrounding negatively. Plants get affected directly by AR due to reductions in growth, productivity, and yield by damaging photosynthetic mechanisms and reproductive organs or indirectly by affecting underground components such as soil and root system. Genes that play important role in plant defense under abiotic stress gets also modulated in response to acid rain. AR induces soil acidification, and disturbs the balance of carbon and nitrogen metabolism, litter properties, and microbial and enzymatic activities. This article overviews the factors contributing to AR, and outlines the past and present trends of rainwater pH across the world, and its effects on plants and soil systems.

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“…Our result (Figure 6) shows that there was a general decrease in pH as the elevation increases. This may be due to high precipitation coupled with high erosion (Prakash et al, 2023), variation in mean annual temperature (Houle et al, 2020;Ma et al, 2022), and poor conservation practices (Sinore et al, 2021) in the study area.…”

Environmental Impact Analysis in 3x10 MW Coal Fired Power Plant Through Life Cycle Assessment

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Functionalized molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) monolayer as an efficient nanosensor towards toxic nitrogen containing gases

“…7 Additionally, acid rain is created when NO x in the atmosphere interacts with water and oxygen affecting and damaging habitats like woods and lakes. 8 In a study carried out by The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), they investigated NO x production associated with non-ideal detonation of blasting agents during explosions specifically in the mining industry. While NO 2 dissipation into the atmosphere from huge operations may take minutes and create a massive orange-like NO x cloud, it can affect the workers' health.…”