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Learning and teaching  >  Education and training  >  Book reviews  >  Identification of ozone-injury

Article

A guide to the identification of ozone-induced foliar injury

Symptoms on European Ash

Foliar injury by ozone on Prunus avium

A guide illustrates examples of visible symptoms of ozone injury on a variety of broadleaved trees, shrubs and herbs and provides guidelines on the recognition of such injury as well as standards for assessing the degree of injury.

Since the 1980s increasing concentrations of tropospheric ozone have regularly made the headlines, especially in the warmer half of the year, when ozone values climb depending on the weather and the increased anthropogenic activities. While in humans ozone irritates the mucous membranes and restricts the capacity of the lungs, in plants it attacks the cell walls and destroys individual cells in leaves.

Depending on the sensitivity of the plant species and the ozone concentration, visible leaf or needle damage appears. The harmful effects of ozone are difficult to prove because it leaves behind no chemical residue that can be analyzed or measured. Visible leaf or needle damage is therefore the only effect that experts can easily detect and characterise.

The symptoms are described in a guide to the identification of ozone-induced symptoms. This guide provides numerous illustrations of known and rather distinctive foliar ozone injuries for many native plant species in Switzerland. It is intended to help with the diagnosis of visible injury caused by ozone and refers to known injury classes to estimate the degree of damage. "Experts and beginners will appreciate the new guide to the identification of ozone-induced foliar injury which is an excellent product of an international cooperation among scientists." (Natur und Mensch, issue 1/2002).

Order

• Ozone and broadleaved species. A guide to the identification of ozone-induced foliar injury

Online data base for ozone visible symptoms Research scientists at the Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL developed an online data base which documents ozone induced damage on plants. You will find pictures and descriptions of over 80 symptomatic plant species at www.ozone.wsl.ch

External link

• Ozone (Wikipedia)

Internal links

• Adverse Ozone Effects on Trees: Understanding a Global Threat to Ecosystem Health
• Ozone injury assessment across Europe
• Ozone: Exposure versus flux
• Ozone reduces the growth of poplar
• Test your knowledge about ozone!