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"Acid rain"
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Poisonous skies : acid rain and the globalization of pollution
Poisonous Skies explores how scientists and policymakers came to grasp the danger fossil fuels posed to the global environment by looking at the first air pollution problem identified as having damaging effects on areas far from the source of emissions: acid rain. This is the first history to investigate acid rain in an international context, spanning from its identification in the 1960s to the present day. The story Rachel Emma Rothschild unfurls reveals how a legacy of military sponsorship of physics, chemistry, and other fields during wartime influenced the direction of research on the environment; the importance of environmental diplomacy to the d tente process of the Cold War; the role of the British and American coal industries in environmental science; and finally, how acid rain shaped ideas about environmental risk and the precautionary principle. Grounded in archival research in eight different countries and five languages as well as interviews with leading scientists from both government and industry, Poisonous Skies should interest anyone seeking to learn from our past in order to better understand and approach the environmental crises of our present day.
Book
Exogenous Melatonin Mitigates Acid Rain Stress to Tomato Plants through Modulation of Leaf Ultrastructure, Photosynthesis and Antioxidant Potential
Acid rain (AR) is a serious global environmental issue causing physio-morphological changes in plants. Melatonin, as an indoleamine molecule, has been known to mediate many physiological processes in plants under different kinds of environmental stress. However, the role of melatonin in acid rain stress tolerance remains inexpressible. This study investigated the possible role of melatonin on different physiological responses involving reactive oxygen species (ROS) metabolism in tomato plants under simulated acid rain (SAR) stress. SAR stress caused the inhibition of growth, damaged the grana lamella of the chloroplast, photosynthesis, and increased accumulation of ROS and lipid peroxidation in tomato plants. To cope the detrimental effect of SAR stress, plants under SAR condition had increased both enzymatic and nonenzymatic antioxidant substances compared with control plants. But such an increase in the antioxidant activities were incapable of inhibiting the destructive effect of SAR stress. Meanwhile, melatonin treatment increased SAR-stress tolerance by repairing the grana lamella of the chloroplast, improving photosynthesis and antioxidant activities compared with those in SAR-stressed plants. However, these possible effects of melatonin are dependent on concentration. Moreover, our study suggests that 100-μM melatonin treatment improved the SAR-stress tolerance by increasing photosynthesis and ROS scavenging antioxidant activities in tomato plants.
Journal Article
Discerning experts : the practices of scientific assessment for environmental policy
\"Discerning Experts assesses the assessments that many governments rely on to help guide environmental policy and action. Through their close look at environmental assessments involving acid rain, ozone depletion, and sea level rise, the authors explore how experts deliberate and decide on the scientific facts about problems like climate change. They also seek to understand how the scientists involved make the judgments they do, how the organization and management of assessment activities affects those judgments, and how expertise is identified and constructed.\"--cover
Book
Response and driving factors of soil enzyme activity related to acid rain: a meta-analysis
As a global pollution, acid rain can significantly alter soil physicochemical and biochemical processes, but our knowledge of how acid rain affects soil enzyme activity is still limited. To quantify the overall magnitude and direction of the response of soil enzyme activity to acid rain, we conducted a linear mixed model–based meta-analysis of 40 articles. Our analysis revealed that acid rain decreased enzyme activity by an average of 4.87%. Soil dehydrogenase and protease activities were particularly sensitive to acid rain, with significant inhibitions observed. The effect of acid rain was moderated by acid rain intensity (i.e., H
+
addition rate, total H
+
added, and acid rain pH) and soil fraction (i.e., rhizosphere and bulk soil). Structural equation modelling further revealed that acid rain suppressed soil microbial biomass by acidifying the soil and that the reduction in microbial biomass directly led to the inhibition of enzyme activity in bulk soil. However, the enzyme activity in the rhizosphere soil was not affected by acid rain due to the rhizosphere effect, which was also not impacted by the decreased soil pH induced by acid rain in rhizosphere. Our study gives an insight into how bulk soil enzyme activity is impacted by acid rain and highlights the need to incorporate rhizosphere processes into acid rain-terrestrial ecosystem models.
Journal Article
Responses of soil nutrients, enzyme activities, and soil microbial carbon metabolic activity of Cunninghamia lanceolata to acid rain stress and post-stress recovery dynamics
Acid rain pollution has historically been a serious issue in Southern China, where the dominant acid rain anion is SO
4
2−
. In recent decades, China has undertaken multiple measures to reduce acid deposition, leading to significant decreases in SO
2
emissions year on year. However, understanding ecological effects during and after acid rain remains important, especially for other rapidly industrializing regions worldwide. Therefore, it is important to study changes in the ecological effects between acid rain deposition periods and the absence of acid rain. For this study, we designed a one-year simulated acid rain experiment. Subsequently, after the simulated acid rain was stopped, we conducted a nine-month continuous monitoring of the relevant experimental plots. We investigated soil nutrients, soil enzyme activities, and soil microbial carbon metabolic activity. The results revealed that acid rain had no significant effects on TN, AP, AK; however, it was difficult to return soil nutrients to their original status once the simulated acid rain was stopped. In addition, the acid rain treatments decreased the activities of soil enzymes, particularly under the high intensity acid rain treatment. Soil enzyme activities (except for sucrase activity under the high intensity acid rain treatment) reverted to their original status once the acid rain was stopped. Further, the moderate and high intensity acid rain treatments negatively affected the activities of soil microbial carbon metabolic. When the simulated acid rain was stopped for the CK treatment, soil microbial carbon metabolic activity recovered over time. During the simulated acid rain treatment and its cessation, four main categories (carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, amino acids, and polymers) were dominantly utilized. The utilization of
L-Asparagine
and
Tween40
resulted in changes in the peak values of the C substrate groups during the non-acid rain period. Finally, the soil enzyme activities were intimately associated with the utilization of carbohydrates, carboxylic acid, amino acids, and phenols. Our results suggested that short-term acid rain contamination showed potential for recovery, but the process occurred over an extended time period.
Journal Article
Photosynthetic rate and chlorophyll fluorescence of barley exposed to simulated acid rain
Acid rain is considered one of the most serious plant abiotic stresses. Photosynthesis is the basis of crop growth and development. The effect of acid rain on barley photosynthesis remains unclear. A glasshouse experiment was conducted, and the photosynthetic rate, chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence, and pigment content of barley were measured in simulated acid rain (SAR) under pH 6.5, 5.5, 4.5, and 3.5. The results showed that net photosynthetic rate, maximal photosynthetic rate, and light saturation point decreased and the light compensation point, and dark respiration rate increased with increasing acidity. The results suggested that photosynthesis in barley plants was inhibited by SAR stress. The Chl content and stomatal conductance declined in parallel with the reduced net photosynthetic rate when barley plants were under SAR stress conditions. This indicated that non-stomatal factors may contribute to reduced photosynthesis under acid rain stress. Acid rain had greater effects on the photosynthesis of the acid rain-sensitive plant Zhepi 33 than on non-sensitive Kunlun 12. A significant difference in parameters such as the maximal fluorescence, variable fluorescence, and active PSII reaction centers was found among the SAR treatments and may be used to evaluate the sensitivity of plants to acid rain stress. The visualization model showed that the photosynthetic reaction centers were inactivated in acid rain stressed barley plants. These findings are valuable for the evaluation of the plant sensitivity to acid rain stress and may be used for the detection and monitoring of acid rain effects on plants in the future.
Journal Article
The legacy from the 50 years of acid rain research, forming present and future research and monitoring of ecosystem impact
Acid rain and acidification research are indeed a multidisciplinary field. This field evolved from the first attempts to mitigate acid freshwater in the 1920s, then linking acid rain to the acidification in late 1950s, to the broad project-concepts on cause and effect from the late 1960s. Three papers from 1974, 1976 and 1988 demonstrate a broad approach and comprise scientific areas from analytical chemistry, biochemistry, limnology, ecology, physiology and genetics. Few, if any, environmental problems have led to a public awareness, political decisions and binding limitations as the story of acid rain. Acid precipitation and acidification problems still exist, but at a lower pressure, and liming has been reduced accordingly. However, the biological responses in the process of recovery are slow and delayed. The need for basic science, multidisciplinary studies, long time series of high-quality data, is a legacy from the acid rain era, and must form the platform for all future environmental projects.
Journal Article
Hydrochar and pyrochar enhanced soil fungal community diversity in a Quercus acutissima plantation under severe nitric acid-type acid rain stress
Intensifying nitric acid-type acid rain (NAR) poses a serious threat to terrestrial ecosystem functioning. Biochar (BC), as a soil amendment, has the potential to mitigate soil degradation caused by acid deposition. However, under severe NAR stress, the mechanisms by which BC affects soil fungal communities in plantations remain largely unexplored. In this study, a field experiment simulating severe NAR was conducted in a
plantation. Two BC types, including pyrochar (PC) and hydrochar (HC), were applied to the soil to examine their effects on soil fungal community composition and diversity. The results showed that the PC application significantly increased the relative abundance of Basidiomycota in soil by 20.92%, whereas HC significantly decreased it by 57.83% under severe NAR stress. Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size results suggest that PC and HC addition promoted the enrichment of specific fungal taxa, such as
,
, and
. Additionally, PC and HC increased the soil fungal Shannon index by 19.81% and 42.45%, respectively, under severe NAR stress. Furthermore, redundancy analysis revealed that changes in soil fungal community structure induced by BC application under severe NAR were mainly driven by soil microbial biomass. Our findings demonstrate that HC is more effective than PC in alleviating severe NAR stress on soil fungal communities in plantations, providing a scientific basis for the resource utilization of BC and the ecological restoration of plantations in NAR-affected regions.
Journal Article
Hydrolytic enzymes mediated lipid-DNA catabolism and altered gene expression of antioxidants under combined application of lead and simulated acid rain in Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum L.) seedlings
Understanding ill effects of simultaneous existence of various abiotic stresses, commonly observed due to various anthropogenic activities and global climate change these days, over plants growth, metabolic activity and yield responses are important for continued agricultural productivity and food security. In the present study, seedlings of Fenugreek (Trigonella foenum graecum L.) were subjected to lead (Pb, 1200 ppm) and/or simulated acid rain (SAR, pH 3.5) for 30 days, and were then analysed. The results revealed reduced growth, and total lipid and DNA contents, while enhanced Pb accumulation, biological concentration factor, biological accumulation coefficient, translocation factor, lipase activity, and levels of free fatty acid, conjugated diene, lipid hydroperoxide, DNA oxidation and DNase activity under Pb and/or SAR exposure. Additionally, activities and gene expression levels of antioxidants (superoxide dismutase, catalase, guaiacol peroxidase and ascorbate peroxidase) were enhanced in response to applied treatments. The results also suggested that inhibitions/ accelerations determined under joint addition of Pb and SAR were comparatively more profound than those measured under their single application. Additionally, root was more sensitive to Pb treatment, compared to both leaf and shoot. Hence, under simultaneous presence of two or more number of abiotic stresses, the strategy opted by plants for survival is chiefly governed by the interaction between prevailing stressors, which is then conceived by plants as a new state of stress.
Journal Article
Effects of simulated acid rain on the morphology, phenology and dry biomass of a local variety of maize (Suwan-1) in Southwestern Nigeria
Effects of acid rain on the morphology, phenology and dry biomass of maize (Suwan-1 variety) were investigated. The maize seedlings were subjected to different pH treatments (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0 and 6.0) of simulated acid rain (SAR) with pH 7.0 as the control for a period of 90 days. The common morphological defects due to SAR application were necrosis and chlorosis. It was observed that necrosis increased in severity as the acidity increased whilst chlorosis was dominant as the acidity decreased. SAR encouraged rapid floral and cob growth but with the consequence of poor floral and cob development in pH 1.0 to 3.0 treatments. The result for the dry biomass indicates that pH treatments 2.0 to 7.0 for total plant biomass were not significantly different (
P
> 0.05) from one another, but were all significantly higher (
P
< 0.05) than pH 1.0. Therefore, it may be deduced that Suwan-1 has the potential to withstand acid rain but with pronounced morphological and phenological defects which, however, have the capacity to reduce drastically the market value of the crop. Therefore, it may be concluded that Suwan-1 tolerated acid rain in terms of the parameters studied at pH 4.0 to 7.0 which makes it a suitable crop in acid rain-stricken climes. This research could also serve as a good reference for further SAR studies on maize or other important cereals.
Journal Article