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Air pollution, Photosynthesis and Forest Decline: Interactions and Consequences

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Ecophysiology of Photosynthesis

Part of the book series: Springer Study Edition ((SSE,volume 100))

Abstract

Industrialization has led, and is still leading, to the emission of large quantities of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in many countries. Atmospheric photochemistry has added ozone, which is formed by the interaction between light, NO2, and oxygen, and is one of the strongest oxidants known. There are also other air pollutants with the potential to damage plants, but since, according to Paracelsus, “the dose defines a poison”, only those pollutants can cause plant injury which occur at concentrations high enough to produce appreciable diffusional fluxes into the plants, fluxes that cannot be mastered by the chemical fluxes engaged in detoxifying entering pollutants.

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Authors
  1. U. Heber
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  2. W. Kaiser
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  3. M. Luwe
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  4. G. Kindermann
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  5. S. Veljovic-Javonovic
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  6. Z. Yin
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  7. H. Pfanz
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  8. S. Slovik
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Lehrstuhl für Pflanzenökologie, Universität Bayreuth, Postfach 101251, Bayreuth, D-95447, Germany

    Ernst-Detlef Schulze

  2. Department of Range Science and Ecology Center, Utah State University, Logan, UT, 84322-5230, USA

    Martyn M. Caldwell

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Heber, U. et al. (1995). Air pollution, Photosynthesis and Forest Decline: Interactions and Consequences. In: Schulze, ED., Caldwell, M.M. (eds) Ecophysiology of Photosynthesis. Springer Study Edition, vol 100. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79354-7_14

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-79354-7_14

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