Table Of ContentEffects of Accumulation of Air Pollutants
in Forest Ecosystems
Effects of Accumulation
of
Air Pollutants
in Forest Ecosystems
Proceedings of a Workshop held at Gottingen, West Germany,
May 16-18, 1982
edited by
B. ULRICH
Institut fiir Bodenkunde und Walderniihrung der Universitiit Gottingen, West Germany
and
J. PANKRATH
Umweltbundesamt, Berlin (West), Germany
D. Reidel Publishing Company
Dordrecht, Holland / Boston, U.S.A. / London, England
library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Main entry under title:
Effects of accumulation of air pollutants in forest ecosystems.
Sponsored by the Environmental Agency of the Federal Republic
of Germany.
Includes index.
1. Air-Pollution-Environmental aspects-Congresses. 2. Forest
ecology-Congresses. 3. Forest soils-Congresses. 4. Soil ecology-
Congresses. I. Ulrich, B. (Bernard), 1926- II. Pankrath,
Jurgen. III. Germany (West). Umweltbundesamt.
QH545.A3E33 1983 581.5'2642 83-3203
ISBN-13: 978-94-009-6985-8 e-ISBN-13: 978-94-009-6983-4
DOl: 10.1 007/978-94-009-6983-4
Published by D. Reidel Publishing Company,
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Copyright © 1983 by D. Reidel Publishing Company, Dordrecht, Holland
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1983
No part of the material protected by this copyright notice may be reproduced or
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CONTENTS
Preface ix
B. Ulrich: A concept of forest ecosystem stability and
of acid deposition as driving force for
destabilization 1
TOPIC 1: PROCESSES AND RATES OF DEPOSITION, STORAGE PLACES
OF DEPOSITED AIR POLLUTANTS
B. Ulrich: Interaction of forest canopies with atmospheric
constituents: S02' alkali and earth alkali
cations and chloride 33
R. Mayer: Interaction of forest canopies with atmospheric
constituents: Aluminum and heavy metals 47
K.D. H6fken: Input of acidifiers and heavy metals to a
German forest area due to dry and wet deposition 57
W. Thomas, W. Riess and R. Herrmann: Processes and rates
of deposition of air pollutants in different
ecosystems 65
L. Granat: Measurements of surface resistance during dry
deposition of S02 to wet and dry coniferous
forest 83
TOPIC 2: PROCESSES AND RATES OF PROTON PRODUCTION BY
DISCOUPLING OF THE ION CYCLE, AND OF PROTON
CONSUMPTION BY SILICATE WEATHERING
E. Matzner and B. Ulrich: The turnover of protons by
mineralization and ion uptake in a beech
(Fagus Silvatica) and a Norway spruce ecosystem 93
S.I. Nillson: Effects on soil chemistry as a consequence
of proton input 105
M.J. Mazzarino, H. Heinrichs and H. F6lster: Holocene
versus accelerated actual proton consumption in
German forest soils 113
vi CONTENTS
TOPIC 3: EFFECTS ON CHEMICAL SOIL STATE
B. Ulrich: Soil acidity and its relations to acid
deposition 127
E. Matzner: Balances of element fluxes within different
ecosystems impacted by acid rain 147
J. Prenzel: A mechanism for storage and retrieval of acid
in acid soils 157
N. v. Breemen and E.R. Jordens: Effects of atmospheric
ammonium sulfate on calcareous and non-calcareous
soils of woodlands in the Netherlands 171
H.G. Miller: Studies of proton fl~x in forests and heaths
in Scotland 183
I.K. Morrison: Composition of percolate from reconstructed
profiles of two Jack Pine Forest soils as
influenced by acid input 195
G. Abrahamsen: Sulphur pollution: Ca, Mg and Al in soil
and soil water and possible effects on forest
trees 207
R.A. Skeffington: Soil properties under three species of
tree in southern England in relation to acid
deposition in throughfall 219
G. BrUmmer and U. Herms: Influence of soil reaction and
organic matter on the solubility of heavy metals
in soils 233
TOPIC 4: EFFECTS ON BIOLOGICAL SOIL STATE AND ON ANIMALS
M-W. v. Buch: Micro-morphological characteristics of humus
forms as indicators of increased environmental
stress in Hamburg's forests 247
A. Huttermann, B. Fedderau-Himme and K. Rosenplanter:
Biochemical react'ivity in forest soils as
indicators for environmental pollution 257
S. Bombosch: Mercury - Accumulation in game 271
TOPIC 5: EFFECTS OF SOIL ACIDIFICATION AND ACCUMULATION
OF AIR POLLUTANTS ON PLANTS
T. Keller: Air pollutant deposition and effects on plants 285
K.F. Wentzel: IUFRO-Studies on maximal S02 emissions
standards to protect forests 295
H. Fluhler: Longtermed fluoride pollution of a forest
ecosystem: Time, the dimension of pitfalls and
limitations 303
CONTENTS vii
S. Athari and H. Kramer: The problem of determining growth
losses in Norway Spruce stands caused by
environmental factors 319
J.B. Reemtsma: First information about inventory of
emission depending damages on Norway Spruce in
Lower Saxony/Fed. Rep. Germany 327
G.H. Tomlinson, II: Die-back of Red Spruce, acid deposition
and changes in soil nutrient status - a review 331
K. Kreutzer, A. Knorr, F. Brosinger and P. Kretzschmar:
Scots Pine-dying within the neighbourhood of an
industrial area 343
K.E. Rehfuess, H. Flurl, F. Franz and E. Raunecker: Growth
patterns, phloem nutrient contents and root
characteristics of beech (Fagus sylv.L.) on
soils of different reaction 359
J. Bauch: Biological alterations in the stem and root of
fir and spruce due to pollution influence 377
Index 387
PREFACE
This volume is based on a workshop on "Effects of accumulation
of air pollutants in forest ecosystems'; held in GOttingen,
Federal Republic of Germany, from May 16-18, 1982. This work'shop
was initiated and sponsored by the Environmental Agency of the
Federal Republic of Germany (project officer: Dr. J. Pankrath)
as part of a research contract (project leader: Dr. B. Ulrich).
THE PROBLEM SEEN UNDER THE ASPECT OF ADMINISTRATION
The problem of forest damage caused by air pollution is not new
in Europe. Already in 1983 a comprehensive report from
Schroeder and Reuss about vegetation damages by fume in the
Harz mountains was published. In 1923, Prof. Dr. Julius Stocklasa
of the Bohemian Technical Highschool in Prague was concerned with
research of toxical effects of sulphur dioxide in his publication
"The damage of vegetation by flue gas and exhalations of facili
ties". This comprehensive and instructive work concludes with
the sentence: "It is already high time for the governments of
all cultural states to take legal, police and private measures
in order to prevent damage by flue gases".
In the neighbourhood of industries with high gaseous and dust
emissions damages have been shown to occur for a long timei these
deleterious effects have influenced the growth of trees and in
extreme cases have even caused their early death.
Allover Central Europe a scattered but immense forest damage is
confirmed. In the last years a reduction in the vitality of
forests has been observed especially in areas remote from
industrialized regions. This exhaustion of forest ecosystems is
the result of an environmental stress which has lasted already
for more than several decades.
The new complex disease of coniferous stands especially is
obviously pOinting towards more serious impairment. Trees,
being the final link of the ecological hierarchy of a forest are
disturbed in their ecological equilibrium. The biological and/or
ix
B. Ulrich and J. Pankrath reds.), Effects of Accumulation of Air Pollutants in Forest Ecosystems, ix-xvii.
Copyright © 1983 by D. Reidel Publishing Company.
x PREFACE
soil buffering capacity of forest stands which normally supports
the resistance of its species to different kinds of air pollution
is obviously exhausted in several areas. In the Federal Republic
of Germany by 10 percent of the forest area exhibit deleterious
impacts mainly caused by a supply of acidifying air pollutants.
Whereas the symptoms of forest damage are uncontested, it is
only with regard to the causes of forest injury that the opinions
of forest experts strikingly disagreeo
At the moment it is a matter of fact that the impairment of air
pollutants on vegetation as well as the acidification of soils
is one of the main causes in the reduction of vitality of large
forest areas. For instance, acidification of soil signifies,
according to the current state of knowledqe. that toxic and
root injuring aluminium ions are releasedo
In addition, forest areas are very ,effectively filtering pollu
tants out of the air. Thus, the uptake of harmful airborne sub
stances is increased by a significant amount if compared to the
open field. This filtering effect of the canopy, called inter
ception, works the whole year for coniferous stands; for
deciduous stands it is limited to the foliage period.
A few decades ago the impairment of regions remote from air
pollution sources was hidden by growth stimulating effects of
Nitrogen and sulphur compoundso The increase of the source heights
has made the deleterious effects gradually become more evident
on a growing scale.
It is not intented to discuss the different opinions on possible
causes of forest damage, nor are investigations on the contri
bution of air pollutants to be presented at this workshop anti
cipated; however, it is necessary to call upon the deposition of
acidifying air pollutants which is to be particular to the
widespread forest disease, and to consider technical and legal
instruments for an air quality control which are also beneficial
to larger regionso
Samples of precipitation in areas remote from industrialized
regions of the Federal Republic of Germany show a diluted acid
with a mean pH value of 4.2, corresponding to a hydrogen ion
concentration of 63 pg H+/l. Analyses of cations and anions in
precipitation indicate that H~ ions, characterizing acidity, are
due to dissociation of sulphuric (about 2/3) and nitric acid
(about 1/3) originating in the oxidation of sulphur dioxide and
nitrogen oxides, respectivelyo
In comparison to sulphuric and nitric acids other strong acids
derived from hydrogen fluoride and hydrogen chloride are mainly
of local concern.
In the Federal Republic of Germany for instance 3,55 Mio t S02
had been released annually into the atmosphere, an amount that
was shared by the following emission source categories:
PREFACE
~
- Power plants, heating plants and industrial
power plants 56 %
- Industry 28 %
- Small industry and domestic consumption 13 %
- Traffic 3 %
The corresponding Nox-emissions resulted in about 3 Mio t N02'
shared by the following source categories:
- Power plants, heating plants and industrial
power plants 31 %
- Industry 19 %
- Small industry and domestic consumption 5 %
- Traffic 45 %
The S02 emissions are due to the utilization of fossil fuels; in
the last few years a stabilisation of the s02 emission level was
reached by substitution of coal, supply of fuels with low
sulphur content and application of flue gas desulphurization
techniques. In contrast to S02' the NOx emissions due to firing
processes had increased according to the growth of consumption
of primary energy; this evidently illustrates the fact that
measures for reduction had hardly been applied.
A successful environmental policy has to limit the release of
air pollutants at the source. In demanding the current state of
technology one merely obeys the legal rule~ for protection of
human health and for conservation of natural resources It is
o
to be regarded with great care, however, that in the past
decreasing pollution levels in densely populated areas have often
been accompanied by increasing pollution in more remote areas
with low pollution levels. Thus the building of tall stacks to
unburden the neighbourhood of high level emittors clearly
exhibits its partial disadvantage.
The Federal Emission Law in Germany contains legal instruments
to ensure clean air. Installations which need a licence, have to
obey the emission and air quality standards of the Technical
Regulation of Air Protection. Technical reduction measures like
low emission firing technologies
low emission fuels
advanced gas purification processes
have to be used.
In the Federal Republic of Germany the necessary legal instruments
for an effective clean air policy have been elaborated. Priority
for further action is given to the amendment of the Technical
Regulation of Air Protection, to an Ordinance for large firing
installations limiting especially precursors of acids like S02,
NOx' HF and HCl in operating new and - with a certain delay in
time - in operating old installations, and to diminish emissions
from motor vehicles.
The ecological air pollution issue is, moreover, an international
PREFACE
~i
problem which cannot be solved by national measures alone. It is
well known that the transboundary transport of air pollution in
Europe causes a manifold of mutual interferences. For instance,
the annual sulphur deposition in the Federal Republic of Germany
is due half to deposition from indigeneous sources and half due
to emissions from other European countries. Within the framework
of the ECE Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution
it is the common objective to strengthen the co-operation of
the contracting countries in order to combat harmful air pollu
tion. The contracting countries shall endeavour to diminish and
to prevent air pollution as far as possible.
The 1982 Stockholm Conference on Acidification of the Environment
demonstrated that the problems of air pollution have international
dimensions.
Any reduction of acidifying emissions of sulphur and nitrogen
compounds will be beneficial to the environmento Control
techniques are already available today.
The demand for further scientifically and technically research
must not obscure, however, the unmediate and unquestionable need
for measures for combating the acidification of the environment.
In implementing the 1979 ECE Convention on Long Range Trans
boundary Air Pollution priority must be given to internationally
harmonited measures taken at the source of air pollution in
accordance with the state of technology.
THE PROBLEM SEEN UNDER THE ASPECT OF SCIENCE
From the scientific point of view, the forest damage and die-back
now occuring in Central Europe raises several questions. Two of
them may be put here: Why was science not able to foresee this
development? Why is science, even after the large scale outbreak
of forest damages, not able to give rapidly clear proof of what
is going on ?
These questions touch on the philosophical background of science.
To answer them, it is necessary to consider the procedure of how
objective knowledge is gained in general. We do so by following
Karl Popper who stated that any increase in objective knowledge
is attained by passing through the following stages:
1. condensing of the available knowledge and the observations
into a hypothesis;
2. trying to discard the hypothesis with the help of new
experiments and observations;
30 and as soon as it becomes impossible to find any contra
diction, accepting the hypothesis as proven theory.
In the light of this science theory, a condensing hypothesis
forms the starting point to gain objective knowledge. In a
forest ecosystem, all system components which may be affected
have to be included into the hypothesis.
