We studied the effects of elevated CO2 and elevated temperature on photosynthesis and composition of Scots pine needles during three years of treatments, started in August 1996. CO2 and temperature were elevated day- and year- round in closed-top chambers, which were constructed around naturally regenerated Scots pine trees growing at a nitrogen poor site. Our aim was to study, whether there is photosynthetic acclimation during three years of growth at elevated CO2 and elevated temperature in Scots pine, and whether acclimation response is connected to the aging of the needles

An outline of the analyses of experimental material from the 2000 moss survey is given. It includes some selected areas in Central Russia, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia and Serbia. Applying this methodology to areas of Central and Eastern Russia, not yet covered by the European moss surveys, will significantly broaden our understanding of air pollution in Europe

The future productivity of forests will be affected by combinations of anthropogenic stresses including elevated atmospheric CO2 and O3. Because the productivity of forests, will be in part, determined by the growth of young trees, we evaluated the responses of Pinus ponderosa seedlings to ambient or elevated CO2 and/or high O3. Shoot growth and whole plant biomass were evaluated for seedlings growing under the CO2 and O3 treatments for 3 years in sun-lit mesocosms with ambient temperature and humidity. This study indicated the potential for CO2 but not O3 effects on Pinus ponderosa seedlings under realistic field conditions as used in this study

The paper presents forest damage in Saxony, silvicultural treatment and the choice of tree species, base of the choice of tree species for areas damaged by air pollutants and solving the problems only on interdisciplinary basis

The aim of the experiment was to find out the influence of various thinning regimes on health condition of young stands of Norway spruce under the stress of air pollution. The experiment is based on comparative method. The series consists of three comparative plots with different thinning regimes. The comparative plot 1 is a control plot without thinning. The program with heavy thinning from below has been tested on the plot 2 and the program based on one very heavy thinning in the young age and longer periods was applied in the stands of plots 3. Health condition of experimental stands was assessed on defoliation in 1982, 1981 and since 1987 annually on both series

The analysis of the latest results along with the change analysis reveals that the conditions of Slovenia's forest are considerably stable and that the process of decline has not progressed with the intensity, that had been predicted in the early eighties. Quite favourable conditions are due to prompt actions (selection and sanitary cutting) in the field

Results of the statistical tests showed the spectral disparity of the production part and highly damaged juvenile part of the spruce crown. A spectral difference of the juvenile and production crown part at early stress could not be shown. A low multiple stress impact was assessed for 75 randomly selected Norway spruce trees of the first AISA image. In case of the second AISA image occurrence of Cu-Zn sulphide mine partly influenced the crown status of the neighbouring spruce ecosystems

Significant differences in the effects of N alone compared with NS Acid have been found with respect to eutrophication and acidification. N alone had no effect on the pleurocarpous mosses, whereas NS Acid caused their death within 2 years. Both treatments enhanced stem area increment and N alone also doubled fine root growth. By contrast NS Acid treatments increased litterfall in a a dose response fashion

Investigations on the bacterial communities associated to ectomycorrhized roots of seedlings from three stands with different degrees of regeneration decline (high, intermediate and low) and from seedlings grown on monoliths obtained from the very same stands have been carried out. The results suggest that forest decline does not influence bacterial biomass associated to seedlings roots but induce a clustering of specific bacterial species adapted to the different degree of forest decline

The biological effects of both elevated CO2 and N deposition on model ecosystem were investigated in the Birmensdorf open-top chamber facility. Each of the 16 chambers was divided into two compartments with a ground area of 3 msub2 and filled with natural unfertilized forest soils from two sites (one acidic, the other calcareous). Elevated CO2 significantly increased O and Zn concentrations in beech leaves and those of Zn in spruce needles on the calcareous soils. Enhanced N deposition also led to a dilution of nutrients and increased N contents