Ozone affects plant, insect, and soil microbial communities: A threat to terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity

Agathokleous, Evgenios; Zhu, Feng; Oksanen, Elina; Sicard, Pierre; Wang, Qi; Saitanis, Costas J.; Araminienė, Valda; Blande, James D.; Hayes, Felicity; Calatayud, Vicent; Domingos, Marisa; Veresoglou, Stavros D.; Peñuelas, Josep; Wardle, David A.; Marco, Alessandra De; Li, Zhengzhen; Harmens, Harry; Yuan, Xiangyang; Vitale, Marcello; Paoletti, Elena

doi:10.1126/sciadv.abc1176

Cited by 231 publications

(137 citation statements)

References 239 publications

(354 reference statements)

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“…In 2016, 374,000 and 14,600 non-accidental premature deaths were attributed to air pollution (PM 2.5 and O 3 , respectively) in the EU-28 1 countries [ 24 ]. Air pollution also damages plant ecosystems [ 35 , 49 , 63 ], and surface O 3 is considered as the most detrimental air pollutant in terms of effects on vegetation and biodiversity [ 1 , 52 , 63 ].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban population exposure to air pollution in Europe over the last decades

Sicard

Agathokleous

Marco³

et al. 2021

Environ Sci Eur

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191

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Background The paper presents an overview of air quality in the 27 member countries of the European Union (EU) and the United Kingdom (previous EU-28), from 2000 to 2017. We reviewed the progress made towards meeting the air quality standards established by the EU Ambient Air Quality Directives (European Council Directive 2008/50/EC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) Air Quality Guidelines by estimating the trends (Mann-Kendal test) in national emissions of main air pollutants, urban population exposure to air pollution, and in mortality related to exposure to ambient fine particles (PM2.5) and tropospheric ozone (O3). Results Despite significant reductions of emissions (e.g., sulfur oxides: ~ 80%, nitrogen oxides: ~ 46%, non-methane volatile organic compounds: ~ 44%, particulate matters with a diameter lower than 2.5 µm and 10 µm: ~ 30%), the EU-28 urban population was exposed to PM2.5 and O3 levels widely exceeding the WHO limit values for the protection of human health. Between 2000 and 2017, the annual PM2.5-related number of deaths decreased (- 4.85 per 106 inhabitants) in line with a reduction of PM2.5 levels observed at urban air quality monitoring stations. The rising O3 levels became a major public health issue in the EU-28 cities where the annual O3-related number of premature deaths increased (+ 0.55 deaths per 106 inhabitants). Conclusions To achieve the objectives of the Ambient Air Quality Directives and mitigate air pollution impacts, actions need to be urgently taken at all governance levels. In this context, greening and re‐naturing cities and the implementation of fresh air corridors can help meet air quality standards, but also answer to social needs, as recently highlighted by the COVID-19 lockdowns.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Urban population exposure to air pollution in Europe over the last decades

Sicard

Agathokleous

Marco³

et al. 2021

Environ Sci Eur

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191

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“…In recent research, serious insect grazing damages on avenue trees were found at relatively low O 3 concentrations (urban centers) in northeast Asia, but such damages were not found on the same species at suburban sites with higher O 3 levels (Takahashi et al 2020 ). Plant–insect communication via biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) should be considered as a possible explanation for these observations (Agathokleous et al 2020 ; Masui et al 2020 ). Understanding plant–insect communications under changing atmospheric environments may help to conserve healthy forest ecosystems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ozone disrupts the communication between plants and insects in urban and suburban areas: an updated insight on plant volatiles

et al. 2021

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Plant–insect interactions are basic components of biodiversity conservation. To attain the international Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the interactions in urban and in suburban systems should be better understood to maintain the health of green infrastructure. The role of ground-level ozone (O3) as an environmental stress disrupting interaction webs is presented. Ozone mixing ratios in suburbs are usually higher than in the center of cities and may reduce photosynthetic productivity at a relatively higher degree. Consequently, carbon-based defense capacities of plants may be suppressed by elevated O3 more in the suburbs. However, contrary to this expectation, grazing damages by leaf beetles have been severe in some urban centers in comparison with the suburbs. To explain differences in grazing damages between urban areas and suburbs, the disruption of atmospheric communication signals by elevated O3 via changes in plant-regulated biogenic volatile organic compounds and long-chain fatty acids are considered. The ecological roles of plant volatiles and the effects of O3 from both a chemical and a biological perspective are presented. Ozone-disrupted plant volatiles should be considered to explain herbivory phenomena in urban and suburban systems.

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“…This GIS-based application is thus a valuable tool to quantify and localize potential negative impacts. Ozone damages can interfere with the vitality of species of plant communities, as well as that of the animals, fungi, bacteria and insects that live in close association with plants or in nearby soils 34 . Changes induced by O 3 impact on many ecological processes, affecting ecosystem services, flows, goods and values.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Economic impacts of ambient ozone pollution on wood production in Italy

Sacchelli¹,

Carrari²,

Paoletti³

et al. 2021

Sci Rep

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Worldwide, tropospheric ozone (O3) is a potential threat to wood production, but our understanding of O3 economic impacts on forests is still limited. To overcome this issue, we developed an approach for integrating O3 risk modelling and economic estimates, by using the Italian forests as a case study. Results suggested a significant impact of O3 expressed in terms of stomatal flux with an hourly threshold of uptake (Y = 1 nmol O3 m−2 leaf area s−1 to represent the detoxification capacity of trees), i.e. POD1. In 2005, the annual POD1 averaged over Italy was 20.4 mmol m−2 and the consequent potential damage ranged from 790.90 M€ to 2.85 B€ of capital value (i.e. 255–869 € ha−1, on average) depending on the interest rate. The annual damage ranged from 31.6 to 57.1 M€ (i.e. 10–17 € ha−1 per year, on average). There was also a 1.1% reduction in the profitable forest areas, i.e. with a positive Forest Expectation Value (FEV), with significant declines of the annual national wood production of firewood (− 7.5%), timber pole (− 7.4%), roundwood (− 5.0%) and paper mill (− 4.8%). Results were significantly different in the different Italian regions. We recommend our combined approach for further studies under different economic and phytoclimatic conditions.

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Ozone affects plant, insect, and soil microbial communities: A threat to terrestrial ecosystems and biodiversity

Cited by 231 publications

References 239 publications

Urban population exposure to air pollution in Europe over the last decades

Urban population exposure to air pollution in Europe over the last decades

Ozone disrupts the communication between plants and insects in urban and suburban areas: an updated insight on plant volatiles

Economic impacts of ambient ozone pollution on wood production in Italy

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