Studies of Airborne Salt Deposition in some North Wales Forests

Sea salt impact on forests in western Norway

“…Such damage has been reported from many countries, e.g. Denmark (Dragsted, 1979;Saxe, 1993;Hansen et al, 1998), Sweden (Franzén, 1990;Gustafsson, 1997), Finland (Pyykkö, 1977), Great Britain (Edwards and Holmes, 1968), Italy (Busotti et al, 1995) and Australia (Dowden and Lambert, 1979). Damage from direct leaf uptake of chloride is also well …”

“…Despite a significant relationship to distance from the sea, the local variation in salt uptake was very large, especially near to the sea. This variation may be due to the rugged topography, creating local wind conditions and turbulence, so that 'distance to the sea' is an inadequate variable to describe exposure (Edwards and Holmes, 1968;Horntvedt and Aamlid, 1989;Gustafsson and Franzén, 2000). Ebbesvik and Nygård (1990) sampled spruce needles along transects from the southern and south-eastern coastline of Norway, which is less split up by fjords, and found a closer relationship between needle sodium and distance from the sea.…”

Deposition of Air-Borne Salt on Pinus radiata and the Underlying Soil

“…Prior to sampling the criteria of Edwards & Holmes (1968) were fulfilled: namely that there was a period of high onshore winds to produce and transport a plentiful supply of salt nuclei and that any previous contamination should have been removed by heavy rain. Three categories of leaf were sampled: (a) yellow leaves collected from the windward side with symptoms of salt damage covering at least half their length;…”

“…Death of shoots and the yellow or blackening of individual leaves may follow severe storms (Edwards & Holmes 1968). In addition to such gross effects, a gradual build-up of sea-salt on or within plants may occur.…”

Effect of Salt Spray Concentration on Growth and Appearance of ‘Gracillimus’ Maiden Grass and ‘Hamelin’ Fountain Grass

“…Researchers have documented injury from airborne salts to plants growing near the coast (Edwards and Holmes, 1968;Karschon, 1964;Malloch, 1972). Exposure to water with high salt content reduces or inhibits plant growth (Belligno et al, 2002a, b;Marcum, 2001;Qian et al, 2001).…”