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Five-year volume growth of European beech does not respond to ozone pollution in Italy

  • Ozone and plant life: the Italian state-of-the-art
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Abstract

A unique database of stand volume growth, estimated as periodic annual volume increment (in m3 ha−1 per year over the period 2001–2005) from 728 European beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) sites distributed across Italy, was used to assess the effects of ambient ozone (O3), expressed as annual average (M24), accumulated exposure above a 40 ppb hourly threshold (AOT40), and total stomatal ozone flux (POD0). Growth data were from the National forest inventory of Italy, while climate data and ozone concentrations were computed by the WRF and CHIMERE models, respectively. Results show that the growth increased with increasing solar radiation and air temperature and decreased with increasing number of cold days, while effects of soil water content and O3 were not significant. In contrast, the literature results suggest that European beech is sensitive to both drought and O3. Ozone levels resulted to be very high (48 ppb M24, 51,200 ppb h AOT40, 21.08 mmol m−2 POD0, on average) and thus able to potentially affect European beech growth. We hypothesize that the high-frequency signals of soil water and O3 got lost when averaged over 5 years and recommended finer time-resolution investigations and inclusion of other factors of variability, e.g., thinning, tree age, and size.

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Acknowledgments

This work was conceived and planned within the COST Action FP0903 and finalized with the financial support of the LIFE15 ENV/IT/000183 MOTTLES project. Data from the National Forest Inventory are now available at www.inventarioforestale.org

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. CNR, Via Madonna del Piano, Sesto Fiorentino, Italy

    Elena Paoletti & Alessandro Anav

  2. ENEA Casaccia, Via Anguillarese 301, Rome, Italy

    Alessandra De Marco

  3. CREA Villazzano, Piazza Nicolini 6, Trento, Italy

    Patrizia Gasparini

  4. Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forest Policies, Via XX Settembre 20, Rome, Italy

    Enrico Pompei

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  1. Elena Paoletti
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  2. Alessandra De Marco
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  3. Alessandro Anav
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  4. Patrizia Gasparini
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  5. Enrico Pompei
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Correspondence to Alessandra De Marco.

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Paoletti, E., De Marco, A., Anav, A. et al. Five-year volume growth of European beech does not respond to ozone pollution in Italy. Environ Sci Pollut Res 25, 8233–8239 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9264-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-017-9264-2

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