TROZGRODIV3

TROZGRODIV3 – Tropospheric ozone effects on forest growth and diversity

The project continues the activities of previous bilateral projects (TROZGRODIV1&2 ), focusing on the effects of ozone (O₃) on forest growth and diversity. The project aims to refine and optimise the monitoring networks in Italy and Romania to assess the stomatal uptake of O₃ and the occurrence of visible damage, ensuring compliance with the European directives on emissions. It is proposed to evaluate the effectiveness of TreeTalker devices in measuring canopy-level O₃ fluxes by measuring sap flow, offering an innovative approach to O₃ monitoring. The project aims to analyse past data to understand the impact of O₃ on forest growth, distinguishing the effects of O₃ from other environmental factors using advanced statistical techniques. It also focuses on investigating the effects of O₃ on plant nutrition and genetic adaptations, with specific experiments on poplar trees to identify epigenetic variations linked to the response to O₃.

The project is in collaboration with National Institute for Research and Development in Forestry “Marin Drăcea” (INCDS, Romania), dott. Ovidiu Badea.