Oxides of nitrogen and ozone: can our plants survive?

Abstract

The authoritative talk by Professor Fowler (Fowler et al., 1998), emphasized the huge increase in the rate of NOx (NO and NO2) emissions into the atmosphere due to fossil fuel combustion, from 1 Tg N y−1 to over 20 Tg N y−1 during the 100 yr between 1880 and 1980. He went on to predict that this rate of emission from anthropogenic sources would increase to 46 Tg N y−1 by the year 2025. In addition, NO can also be released from the soil following microbial action, a process that is very dependent upon soil temperature, nitrogen availability and water content. Later in the meeting, Professor Raven (Raven & Yin, 1998) pointed out that terrestrial plants, though not necessarily each individual species, have over the past 450 million yr coped with large changes in nitrogenous compounds in the environment. Nevertheless, this is no basis for complacency about the current situation because the rates of change caused by man's activities are probably unprecedented. Furthermore, the fact that terrestrial plant life in some form can continue, despite massive changes in environmental chemistry, does not necessarily indicate that the systems on which we ourselves are dependent will be conserved.