Context

The impacts of air pollution and climate change on ecosystems have been issued in many studies in the last decades. Impacts of climate change and air pollution on ecosystems interact in two basic ways: climate change can change the effects of exposure of ecosystems to air pollution, and vice versa; climate change can affect the sensitivity of ecosystems to specific impacts of air pollution and vice versa.

The main objective of the IUFRO RG 7.01 is to address complex effects of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems through an active interaction between specialists in several areas of forest sciences.

  • The WG 7.01.01 deals with detection, monitoring and evaluation of air pollution and climate change effects on forests.
  • The WG 7.01.02 explains physiological and biochemical processes, and develops indicators of those effects.
  • The WG 7.01.03 addresses status and changes in forest environment from the point of view of atmospheric deposition of air pollutants, contamination of soils and nutrient cycling.
  • The WG 7.01.04 deals with evaluation of genetic changes in forest vegetation caused by air pollution and climate change.
  • The WG 7.01.05 deals with the modeling tools to understand processes underlying climate change and air pollution impacts on forest ecosystems. Modeling and risk assessment activities provide a valuable tool for policy initiatives.
  • The WG 7.01.06 deals with those "social and political aspects" related to the "Impacts of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems".
  • The WG 7.01.07 deals with the multiple and interactive effects of air pollution and climate change on forest ecosystems and the services they provide.
  • The WG 7.01.08 deals with research at the interface ecology-hydrology. The "forest-water" relationships is one of the major research fields of air pollution and climate change impacts on forests.