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A multi-sites analysis on the ozone effects on Gross Primary Production of European forests

TitleA multi-sites analysis on the ozone effects on Gross Primary Production of European forests
Publication TypeArticolo su Rivista peer-reviewed
Year of Publication2016
AuthorsProietti, C., Anav A., De Marco Alessandra, Sicard P., and Vitale M.
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume556
Pagination1-11
ISSN00489697
KeywordsAir pollution, air temperature, analysis, anomalies analysis, AOT40, article, Atmospheric temperature, Carbon dioxide, concentration (parameters), Correlation analysis, Decision trees, Ecology, ecosystem service, Ecosystems, environmental aspects and related phenomena, Europe, forest, forest cover, forest ecosystem, forest soil, forestry, greenhouse gas, Greenhouse gases, Gross primary production, humidity, MODIS, net primary production, Ozone, Ozone flux, partial correlation analysis, photosynthesis, Pollution, predictor variable, priority journal, Radiometers, random forest, Random forests, Soil moisture, Soil water content, Soils, troposphere, Tropospheric ozone, Vegetation, water availability
Abstract

Ozone (O3) is both a greenhouse gas and a secondary air pollutant causing adverse impacts on forests ecosystems at different scales, from cellular to ecosystem level. Specifically, the phytotoxic nature of O3 can impair CO2 assimilation that, in turn affects forest productivity. This study aims to evaluate the effects of tropospheric O3 on Gross Primary Production (GPP) at 37 European forest sites during the time period 2000-2010. Due to the lack of carbon assimilation data at O3 monitoring stations (and vice-versa) this study makes a first attempt to combine high resolution MODIS Gross Primary Production (GPP) estimates and O3 measurement data. Partial Correlations, Anomalies Analysis and the Random Forests Analysis (RFA) were used to quantify the effects of tropospheric O3 concentration and its uptake on GPP and to evaluate the most important factors affecting inter-annual GPP changes. Our results showed, along a North-West/South-East European transect, a negative impact of O3 on GPP ranging from 0.4% to 30%, although a key role of meteorological parameters respect to pollutant variables in affecting GPP was found. In particular, meteorological parameters, namely air temperature (T), soil water content (SWC) and relative humidity (RH) are the most important predictors at 81% of test sites. Moreover, it is interesting to highlight a key role of SWC in the Mediterranean areas (Spanish, Italian and French test sites) confirming that, soil moisture and soil water availability affect vegetation growth and photosynthesis especially in arid or semi-arid ecosystems such as the Mediterranean climate regions.Considering the pivotal role of GPP in the global carbon balance and the O3 ability to reduce primary productivity of the forests, this study can help in assessing the O3 impacts on ecosystem services, including wood production and carbon sequestration. © 2016 Elsevier B.V.

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URLhttps://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-84960087248&doi=10.1016%2fj.scitotenv.2016.02.187&partnerID=40&md5=78a832dcd7f8ae268e9ab3f58323fa8d
DOI10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.02.187
Citation KeyProietti20161