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Current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes

Risks associated with exposure of individual plant species to ozone (O(3)) are well documented, but implications for terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes have received insufficient attention. This is an important gap because feedbacks to the atmosphere may change as future O(3) levels in...

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Autores principales: Fuhrer, Jürg, Val Martin, Maria, Mills, Gina, Heald, Colette L., Harmens, Harry, Hayes, Felicity, Sharps, Katrina, Bender, Jürgen, Ashmore, Mike R.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5192800/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28035269
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2568
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author Fuhrer, Jürg
Val Martin, Maria
Mills, Gina
Heald, Colette L.
Harmens, Harry
Hayes, Felicity
Sharps, Katrina
Bender, Jürgen
Ashmore, Mike R.
author_facet Fuhrer, Jürg
Val Martin, Maria
Mills, Gina
Heald, Colette L.
Harmens, Harry
Hayes, Felicity
Sharps, Katrina
Bender, Jürgen
Ashmore, Mike R.
author_sort Fuhrer, Jürg
collection PubMed
description Risks associated with exposure of individual plant species to ozone (O(3)) are well documented, but implications for terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes have received insufficient attention. This is an important gap because feedbacks to the atmosphere may change as future O(3) levels increase or decrease, depending on air quality and climate policies. Global simulation of O(3) using the Community Earth System Model (CESM) revealed that in 2000, about 40% of the Global 200 terrestrial ecoregions (ER) were exposed to O(3) above thresholds for ecological risks, with highest exposures in North America and Southern Europe, where there is field evidence of adverse effects of O(3), and in central Asia. Experimental studies show that O(3) can adversely affect the growth and flowering of plants and alter species composition and richness, although some communities can be resilient. Additional effects include changes in water flux regulation, pollination efficiency, and plant pathogen development. Recent research is unraveling a range of effects belowground, including changes in soil invertebrates, plant litter quantity and quality, decomposition, and nutrient cycling and carbon pools. Changes are likely slow and may take decades to become detectable. CESM simulations for 2050 show that O(3) exposure under emission scenario RCP8.5 increases in all major biomes and that policies represented in scenario RCP4.5 do not lead to a general reduction in O(3) risks; rather, 50% of ERs still show an increase in exposure. Although a conceptual model is lacking to extrapolate documented effects to ERs with limited or no local information, and there is uncertainty about interactions with nitrogen input and climate change, the analysis suggests that in many ERs, O(3) risks will persist for biodiversity at different trophic levels, and for a range of ecosystem processes and feedbacks, which deserves more attention when assessing ecological implications of future atmospheric pollution and climate change.
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spelling pubmed-51928002016-12-29 Current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes Fuhrer, Jürg Val Martin, Maria Mills, Gina Heald, Colette L. Harmens, Harry Hayes, Felicity Sharps, Katrina Bender, Jürgen Ashmore, Mike R. Ecol Evol Review Risks associated with exposure of individual plant species to ozone (O(3)) are well documented, but implications for terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes have received insufficient attention. This is an important gap because feedbacks to the atmosphere may change as future O(3) levels increase or decrease, depending on air quality and climate policies. Global simulation of O(3) using the Community Earth System Model (CESM) revealed that in 2000, about 40% of the Global 200 terrestrial ecoregions (ER) were exposed to O(3) above thresholds for ecological risks, with highest exposures in North America and Southern Europe, where there is field evidence of adverse effects of O(3), and in central Asia. Experimental studies show that O(3) can adversely affect the growth and flowering of plants and alter species composition and richness, although some communities can be resilient. Additional effects include changes in water flux regulation, pollination efficiency, and plant pathogen development. Recent research is unraveling a range of effects belowground, including changes in soil invertebrates, plant litter quantity and quality, decomposition, and nutrient cycling and carbon pools. Changes are likely slow and may take decades to become detectable. CESM simulations for 2050 show that O(3) exposure under emission scenario RCP8.5 increases in all major biomes and that policies represented in scenario RCP4.5 do not lead to a general reduction in O(3) risks; rather, 50% of ERs still show an increase in exposure. Although a conceptual model is lacking to extrapolate documented effects to ERs with limited or no local information, and there is uncertainty about interactions with nitrogen input and climate change, the analysis suggests that in many ERs, O(3) risks will persist for biodiversity at different trophic levels, and for a range of ecosystem processes and feedbacks, which deserves more attention when assessing ecological implications of future atmospheric pollution and climate change. John Wiley and Sons Inc. 2016-11-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5192800/ /pubmed/28035269 http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2568 Text en © 2016 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review
Fuhrer, Jürg
Val Martin, Maria
Mills, Gina
Heald, Colette L.
Harmens, Harry
Hayes, Felicity
Sharps, Katrina
Bender, Jürgen
Ashmore, Mike R.
Current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes
title Current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes
title_full Current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes
title_fullStr Current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes
title_full_unstemmed Current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes
title_short Current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes
title_sort current and future ozone risks to global terrestrial biodiversity and ecosystem processes
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5192800/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28035269
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/ece3.2568
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