Economic impacts of ambient ozone pollution on wood production in Italy.

Worldwide, tropospheric ozone (O3) is a potential threat to wood production, but our understanding of O3 economic impacts on forests is still limited. To overcome this issue, we developed an approach for integrating O3 risk modelling and economic estimates, by using the Italian forests as a case study. Results suggested a significant impact of O3 expressed in terms of stomatal flux with an hourly threshold of uptake (Y = 1 nmol O3 m-2 leaf area s-1 to represent the detoxification capacity of trees), i.e. POD1. In 2005, the annual POD1 averaged over Italy was 20.4 mmol m-2 and the consequent potential damage ranged from 790.90 M€ to 2.85 B€ of capital value (i.e. 255-869 € ha-1, on average) depending on the interest rate. The annual damage ranged from 31.6 to 57.1 M€ (i.e. 10-17 € ha-1 per year, on average). There was also a 1.1% reduction in the profitable forest areas, i.e. with a positive Forest Expectation Value (FEV), with significant declines of the annual national wood production of firewood (- 7.5%), timber pole (- 7.4%), roundwood (- 5.0%) and paper mill (- 4.8%). Results were significantly different in the different Italian regions. We recommend our combined approach for further studies under different economic and phytoclimatic conditions.

Impacts of air pollution on human and ecosystem health, and implications for the National Emission Ceilings Directive: Insights from Italy.

Across the 28 EU member states there were nearly half a million premature deaths in 2015 as a result of exposure to PM2.5, O3 and NO2. To set the target for air quality levels and avoid negative impacts for human and ecosystems health, the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD, 2016/2284/EU) sets objectives for emission reduction for SO2, NOx, NMVOCs, NH3 and PM2.5 for each Member State as percentages of reduction to be reached in 2020 and 2030 compared to the emission levels into 2005. One of the innovations of NECD is Article 9, that mentions the issue of "monitoring air pollution impacts" on ecosystems. We provide a clear picture of what is available in term of monitoring network for air pollution impacts on Italian ecosystems, summarizing what has been done to control air pollution and its effects on different ecosystems in Italy. We provide an overview of the impacts of air pollution on health of the Italian population and evaluate opportunities and implementation of Article 9 in the Italian context, as a case study beneficial for all Member States. The results showed that SO42- deposition strongly decreased in all monitoring sites in Italy over the period 1999-2017, while NO3- and NH4+ decreased more slightly. As a consequence, most of the acid-sensitive sites which underwent acidification in the 1980s partially recovered. The O3 concentration at forest sites showed a decreasing trend. Consequently, AOT40 (the metric identified to protect vegetation from ozone pollution) showed a decrease, even if values were still above the limit for forest protection (5000 ppb h-1), while PODy (flux-based metric under discussion as new European legislative standard for forest protection) showed an increase. National scale studies pointed out that PM10 and NO2 induced about 58,000 premature deaths (year 2005), due to cardiovascular and respiratory diseases. The network identified for Italy contains a good number of monitoring sites (6 for terrestrial ecosystem monitoring, 4 for water bodies monitoring and 11 for ozone impact monitoring) distributed over the territory and will produce a high number of monitored parameters for the implementation of the NECD.

Drinking water contamination from perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS): an ecological mortality study in the Veneto Region, Italy.

Background: Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), a heterogeneous group of highly stable man-made chemicals, have been widely used since 1960s and can be detected almost ubiquitously in all environmental matrices. In Italy, on January 2014, drinking water contamination in an area of the Veneto Region was detected mainly due to the drain of fluorinated chemicals by a manufacturing company operating since 1964. Methods: The present ecological mortality study was aimed at comparing mortality for some causes of death selected on the basis of previous reported associations, during the period 1980-2013, in municipalities with PFAS contaminated and uncontaminated drinking water on the basis of the levels indicated by the Italian National Health Institute (ISS). Sex-specific number, standardized mortality rates and rate ratios (RR) for PFAS contaminated and uncontaminated areas were computed for each cause of death through the ENEA epidemiological database. Results: In both sexes, statistically significant RRs were detected for all causes mortality, diabetes, cerebrovascular diseases, myocardial infarction and Alzheimer's disease. In females, RRs significantly higher than 1.0 were also observed for kidney and breast cancer, and Parkinson's disease. Increased risk, although not statistically significant, was observed for bladder cancer in both sexes, and for testicular cancer, pancreatic cancer and leukemia in males only. Conclusions: Higher mortality levels for some causes of death, possibly associated with PFAS exposure, were detected in contaminated municipalities in comparison with uncontaminated ones with similar socioeconomic status and smoking habits. These results warrant further individual level analytic studies to delineate casual associations.

High resolution estimates of the corrosion risk for cultural heritage in Italy.

Air pollution plays a pivotal role in the deterioration of many materials used in buildings and cultural monuments causing an inestimable damage. This study aims to estimate the impacts of air pollution (SO2, HNO3, O3, PM10) and meteorological conditions (temperature, precipitation, relative humidity) on limestone, copper and bronze based on high resolution air quality data-base produced with AMS-MINNI modelling system over the Italian territory over the time period 2003-2010. A comparison between high resolution data (AMS-MINNI grid, 4 × 4 km) and low resolution data (EMEP grid, 50 × 50 km) has been performed. Our results pointed out that the corrosion levels for limestone, copper and bronze are decreased in Italy from 2003 to 2010 in relation to decrease of pollutant concentrations. However, some problem related to air pollution persists especially in Northern and Southern Italy. In particular, PM10 and HNO3 are considered the main responsible for limestone corrosion. Moreover, the high resolution data (AMS-MINNI) allowed the identification of risk areas that are not visible with the low resolution data (EMEP modelling system) in all considered years and, especially, in the limestone case. Consequently, high resolution air quality simulations are suitable to provide concrete benefits in providing information for national effective policy against corrosion risk for cultural heritage, also in the context of climate changes that are affecting strongly Mediterranean basin.

Ozone exposure affects tree defoliation in a continental climate.

Ground-level ozone (O3) affects trees through visible leaf injury, accelerating leaf senescence, declining foliar chlorophyll content, photosynthetic activity, growth, carbon sequestration, predisposing to pests attack and a variety of other physiological effects. Tree crown defoliation is one of the most important parameters that is representative of forest health and vitality. Effects of air pollution on forests have been investigated through manipulative experiments that are not representative of the real environmental conditions observed in the field. In this work we investigated the role of O3 concentration and other metrics (AOT40 and POD0) in affecting crown defoliation in temperate Romanian forests. The impacts of O3 were estimated in combination with nitrogen pollutants, climatic factors and orographic conditions, by applying a non-linear modelling approach (Random Forest and Generalised Regression Models). Ozone concentration and AOT40 under Romanian conditions were more important than meteorological parameters in affecting crown defoliation. In these particular conditions, POD0 never exceeded the critical level suggested by previous literature for forest protection, and thus was not important in affecting crown defoliation.

Impacts of air pollution on cultural heritage corrosion at European level: What has been achieved and what are the future scenarios.

The interaction of pollutants with Cultural Heritage materials leads to artworks and materials degradation and loss, causing an unpriceless damage. This works aims to estimate the impacts of air pollution and meteorological conditions on limestone, copper and bronze and represents the European risk assessment for corrosion of Cultural Heritage materials. The measures and policies for atmospheric pollution reduction have cut off the SO2 concentration and consequently its impact on materials is drastically reduced. Indeed, in 1980 the number of UNESCO sites in danger was extremely high (94% for limestone, 54% for copper and 1% for bronze) while in 2010 these sites did not exceed the tolerable value of surface recession and corrosion. However, some problem related to air pollution persists. In particular, Random Forest Analysis (RFA), highlights PM10 as the main responsible for materials corrosion, in 2010. Two scenarios in 2030 have been tested, highlighting that the corrosion levels of limestone, copper and bronze exceed the tolerable limits only in the Balkan area and Turkey. Our results show the importance in the air quality modelling as a powerful tool for the UNESCO sites conservation.

Future impacts of nitrogen deposition and climate change scenarios on forest crown defoliation.

Defoliation is an indicator for forest health in response to several stressors including air pollutants, and one of the most important parameters monitored in the International Cooperative Programme on Assessment and Monitoring of Air Pollution Effects on Forests (ICP Forests). The study aims to estimate crown defoliation in 2030, under three climate and one nitrogen deposition scenarios, based on evaluation of the most important factors (meteorological, nitrogen deposition and chemical soil parameters) affecting defoliation of twelve European tree species. The combination of favourable climate and nitrogen fertilization in the more adaptive species induces a generalized decrease of defoliation. On the other hand, severe climate change and drought are main causes of increase in defoliation in Quercus ilex and Fagus sylvatica, especially in Mediterranean area. Our results provide information on regional distribution of future defoliation, an important knowledge for identifying policies to counteract negative impacts of climate change and air pollution.

Assessing ozone and nitrogen impact on net primary productivity with a Generalised non-Linear Model.

Some studies suggest that in Europe the majority of forest growth increment can be accounted for N deposition and very little by elevated CO(2). High ozone (O(3)) concentrations cause reductions in carbon fixation in native plants by offsetting the effects of elevated CO(2) or N deposition. The cause-effect relationships between primary productivity (NPP) of Quercus cerris, Q. ilex and Fagus sylvatica plant species and climate and pollutants (O(3) and N deposition) in Italy have been investigated by application of Generalised Linear/non-Linear regression model (GLZ model). The GLZ model highlighted: i) cumulative O(3) concentration-based indicator (AOT40F) did not significantly affect NPP; ii) a differential action of oxidised and reduced nitrogen depositions to NPP was linked to the geographical location; iii) the species-specific variation of NPP caused by combination of pollutants and climatic variables could be a potentially important drive-factor for the plant species' shift as response to the future climate change.

Geostatistics as a validation tool for setting ozone standards for durum wheat.

Which is the best standard for protecting plants from ozone? To answer this question, we must validate the standards by testing biological responses vs. ambient data in the field. A validation is missing for European and USA standards, because the networks for ozone, meteorology and plant responses are spatially independent. We proposed geostatistics as validation tool, and used durum wheat in central Italy as a test. The standards summarized ozone impact on yield better than hourly averages. Although USA criteria explained ozone-induced yield losses better than European criteria, USA legal level (75 ppb) protected only 39% of sites. European exposure-based standards protected > or =90%. Reducing the USA level to the Canadian 65 ppb or using W126 protected 91% and 97%, respectively. For a no-threshold accumulated stomatal flux, 22 mmol m(-2) was suggested to protect 97% of sites. In a multiple regression, precipitation explained 22% and ozone explained <0.9% of yield variability.

Corrosion on cultural heritage buildings in Italy: a role for ozone?

Because of climatic reasons and of reduced concentrations of SO(2), ground-level ozone (O(3)) is one of the main air pollutants in Southern Europe. Ozone levels are very high both in rural and urban locations. In the cities, O(3) can affect human health and materials. Regarding materials, most relevant is the exposure to pollutants of cultural heritage buildings. In particular, monuments registered on UNESCO's list of the world heritage require special monitoring. In Italy 34% and 97% of the territory is exposed to corrosion risk higher than the tolerable level for limestone and copper, respectively. The tolerable corrosion level for limestone and copper was also exceeded in the central area of Milan. In this area the tolerable O(3) concentration for copper was calculated. These concentrations (ranging between 30 and 40 microg/m(3)) cannot be exceeded at unchanged concentration of other pollutants to maintain corrosion levels below the tolerable ones.