VibEuroNet: a bio-indicator approach to assess ozone impact on vegetation using Viburnum lantana

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VibEuroNet

A bio-indicator approach to assess ozone impact

on vegetation using Viburnum lantana

Gottardini E.1_{, Schaub M.}2,_{Ferretti M.}3

1_{Fondazione Edmund Mach FEM, San Michele all'Adige (TN), Italy} 2_{Swiss Federal Research Institute WSL, Birmensdorf, Switzerland} 3_{TerraData environmetrics, Monterotondo M.mo (GR), Italy}

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Why to adopt a bio-indicator approach

• Symptoms are specific, unambiguous, easy to be detected

• Data comparability

In addition, in case of in-situ bioindicator, plants:



are well adapted to environment, not stressed by

transplantation



are useful to assess the actual impact of ambient ozone,

under real field conditions



synthesize the complexity of all processes between exposure

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Viburnum lantana L. - wayfaring tree

Family: Adoxaceae (formerly part of Caprifoliaceae)

• Deciduous shrub, in woodland, scrub and hedgerows, on base-rich soils.

• Leaves opposite, simple oval to lanceolate, 6– 13 cm wide and 4–9 cm broad.

• Hermaphrodite flowers small (5 mm), creamy-white, in dense cymes 4–10 cm width at the top of the stems.

• Fruit is oblong drupe 8 mm long, green at first, turning red, then black at full maturity.

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Viburnum lantana meets bioindicator

requirements



Wide distribution



High and documented sensitivity

to the pollutant



Specificity of the response



Responsiveness throughout the

growing season



Quantitative response to

pollutant exposure

Fr om lit er atur e Fr om loc al s tud ies

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Main results from local studies

• Temporal scale

– intra-annual, within the same vegetative season – inter-annual

Consistency between ozone levels and frequency of symptomatic

Viburnum lantana plants at:

• Spatial scale

– within the same region

0 4500 9000 13500 18000 22500 27000 31500 36000 133 140 154 168 182 196 210 224 238 259 DOY AO T 4 0 , p p b h 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80

13-May 28-May 12-Jun 27-Jun 12-Jul 27-Jul 11-Aug 26-Aug 10-Sep

symp to ma tic p la n ts, %

symptomatic plants at low O3 symptomatic plants at high O3 AOT40, low O3 AOT40, high O3

target value for protecting vegetation, Directive 2008/50/EU

Trentino, North Italy

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• Results are promising and supportive of the use of

Viburnum lantana as in-situ bioindicator for ozone

impact on vegetation in forest areas

• Does it work also at larger (European) scale?

Develop a proposal in the frame of the ICP

Forests, the International Co-operative

Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of

Air Pollution Effects on Forests, Expert Panel on

Ambient Air Quality

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VibEuroNet

Viburnum lantana observation Network in Europe

Objective:

• Launch a large-scale test-phase to

verify the responsiveness of V. lantana to ozone, based on data collected by the ICP Forests program.

The proposal:

• is based on our experience and resuls at regional level

• aims at exploring your interest in and willingness to apply it • needs to be discussed and ageed all togheter

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VibEuroNet

Preliminary work

Field procedure

Future plan

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https://www.infoflora.ch/de/

Preliminary work

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Preliminary work

• Searching for information about Viburnum lantana distribution • Overlapping V. lantana population with Level II plots

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Preliminary work

• Identification of Level II sites where O₃ is measured and where V.

lantana is present in the 1 x 1 km quadrate centered on the open

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Preliminary work

• Identification of Level II sites where O₃ is measured and where V.

lantana is present in the 1 x 1 km quadrate centered on the open

field (OF) monitoring station

OF

500 m

• Identification and numbering of all open areas and tracks/pathways in the 1x1 km quadrate

• Random selection of n. open areas/tracks/pathways for each quadrate

1

2 3

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• First, examine the LESS and adiacent forest edges

• Secondly, if not enough plants were present, examine the randomly selected open areas/tracks from the list

obtained after the preliminary work

• Continue unless a minimum of 10, maximum of 30 plants have been found

OF

500 m

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• For each plant, assess:

– presence/absence of ozone foliar injury on each plant

– proportion of leaves with ozone injury (0%; 1-5%; 6-50%; 51-100%) – plant height class (50-90; >90-180;

>180 cm) – aspect

• For each open area/track, register the soil moisture (1 = wet; 2 = fresh; 3 = dry)

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Future plan

• Collect expressions of interest by end 2016 • Organise a specific training course in 2017, at

San Michele a/A (Trento, Italy):

– Spring - early Summer: in time to plan the field work, but too early for symptoms

– Late July: in time for symptoms (?), but too late for the planning

• Field assessments from 1 – 31 August 2017 • Results could be considered:

– for a common paper

– to revise and implement the off-plot ozone symptom surveys, ICP Forests Manual, part VIII

NOTE – not all Level II plots have to be assessed!

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Availability of data on Viburnum

lantana in the ICP Forests database

Assessed years



Presence of V. lantana plants

Presence of symptomatic V. lantana plants

Country Country code Plot n. 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 France 1 90  93  Germany 4 1001    Austria 14 15   Switzerland 50 3          9    11           13        14  