Detecting ozone and demonstrating its phytotoxicity in forested areas of Poland: A pilot study

Abstract

Ambient concentrations of ozone (O 3) were measured and O 3 phytotoxicity to tobacco ( Nicotiana tabacum L.) was demonstrated in several forest locations in Poland during a pilot study from July–October, 1991. At southern and central locations in Poland, the 24-hour average O 3 concentrations measured with a UV absorption photometer were in the range of 32–55 ppb, and the corresponding 1-hour maxima in the range of 39–83 ppb. At these locations longer period (four to fifteen days) average concentrations were determined using O 3 passive samplers (DGA, Inc.) and were reaching 60 ppb, while at Bialowieza in eastern Poland O 3 concentrations averaged less than 40 ppb. In Szarow, near the Niepolomice Forest in southern Poland, 1-hour O 3 maxima estimated from the data obtained using passive samplers were about 105 ppb in early September. At several locations in southern and central Poland, extensive O 3 injury was determined on O 3-sensitive Bel W-3 tobacco plants; such injury did not occur in the Bialowieza Forest of eastern Poland. The results of this pilot study indicate that O 3 is present at phytotoxic levels in southern and central Poland.