Hostname: page-component-77c89778f8-5wvtr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-16T18:19:30.690Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Pollution Effects on Plant Distribution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Michael Treshow
Michael Treshow
Affiliation:
Professor of Biology, Department of Biology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112, U.S.A.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Since Man's earliest dominion of the Earth, he has depended on the land and its plants for his survival, and he has often altered the forest and field to enhance his success. He has removed some species, planted others, and encouraged growth of still others, both intentionally and inadvertently, to the extent that few areas of the Earth still remain covered by large expanses of totally undisturbed plant communities.

Among the inadvertent changes that have been wrought by Man in natural systems are those resulting from the input of the pollutants of technology: sulphur dioxide, herbicides, photochemical pollutants, pesticides, radiation, and much more. The presence of each provides a selective force favouring some genotypes, discouraging others, and eliminating species that lack sufficient genetic diversity to survive. Thus the occurrence and distribution of plants is influenced, and community composition is changed—usually for the worse. Where large numbers of species are killed and the land is laid bare to erosion, the impact is highly undesirable. In other instances, tolerant genotypes existed of a sufficiency of species to allow them to reproduce and fill vacated niches. In the occasional instance where only a few plant species are damaged, the character of the change will depend on the nature of the tolerant individuals and species. A shift from forest to more tolerant grasses and forbs is common.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 7 , Issue 4 , Winter 1980 , pp. 279 - 286
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1980

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Anderson, F. A. (1967). Air Pollution Damage to Vegetation in Georgetown Canyon, Idaho. M.S. Thesis, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah: 102 pp. (mimeogr.), illustr.Google Scholar
Antonovics, J., Bradshaw, A. D. & Turner, R. G. (1971). Heavy-metal tolerance in plants. Adv. in Ecol. Res., 7, pp. 1–35.Google Scholar
Ashmore, M. R. & Bell, J. N. B. (1978). Effects of ozone on vegetation in the United Kingdom. P. 341 in Third International Congress of Plant Pathology. Paul Parey, München, Berlin & Hamburg: 435 pp.Google Scholar
Bell, J. N. B. & Mudd, C. H. (1976). Sulphur dioxide resistance in plants: a case study of Lolium perenne. Pp. 87–105 in Effects of Air Pollutants on Plants (Ed. Mansfield, T. A.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK: 209 pp. illustr.Google Scholar
Bordeau, P. & Treshow, M. (1978). Ecosystem response to pollution. Pp. 313–30 in Principles of Ecotoxicology (Ed. Butler, G. C.). John Wiley and Sons, Chichester, UK: 350 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Bradshaw, A. D. (1976). Pollution and evolution. Pp. 135–8 in Effects of Air Pollutants on Plants (Ed. Mansfield, T. A.). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK: 209 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Braekke, F. H. (Ed.) (1976). Impact of Acid Precipitation on Forest and Freshwater Ecosystems in Norway. Summary Report SNSF Project, Agricultural Research Council of Norway, RECLAMO, Oslo, Norway: 111 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Eastmond, Robert (1971). Response of Four Plant Communities to Eroded Soils and Smelter Smoke in Northern Utah. Ph.D. thesis, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah: 83 pp., (mimeogr.), illustr.Google Scholar
Evans, L. S., Amur, N. F. & DaCosta, F. (1977). Leaf surface and histological perturbations of leaves of Phaseolus vulgaris and Helianthus annuus after exposure to simulated acid rain. Amer. J. Bot., 64, pp. 903–13, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrar, J. F., Relton, J. & Rutter, A. J. (1977). Sulphur dioxide and the scarcity of Pinus sylvestris in the industrial Pennines. Environ. Pollut., 14, pp. 63–8, illustr.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harward, M. & Treshow, M. (1975). Impact of ozone on the growth and reproduction of understorey plants in the aspen zone of western U.S.A. Environmental Conservation, 2 (1), pp. 17–23, 3 figs.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hawksworth, D. L. (1973). Mapping studies. Pp. 38–76 in Air Pollution and Lichens (Ed. Ferry, B. W., Baddeley, M. S. & Hawksworth, D. L.). University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Ontario: viii + 389 pp.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, F. (1969). Epiphytes and air pollution. Pp. 211–21 in Air Pollution: Proceedings of the First European Congress on the Influence of Air Pollution on Animals and Plants, 1968. Centre for Agricultural Publishing and Documentation, Wageningen, Netherlands: 313 pp.Google Scholar
LeBlanc, F. & Rao, D. N. (1975). Effects of air pollution on lichens and bryophytes. Pp. 237–72 in Responses of Plants to Air Pollutants (Ed. Mudd, J. B. & Kozlowski, T. T.). Academic Press, New York, NY: xi + 383 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Mansfield, T. A. (Ed.) (1976). Effects of Air Pollutants on Plants. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK: 209 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Miller, P. R. & McBride, J. R. (1975). Effects of air pollutants on forests. Pp. 196–236 in Responses of Plants to Air Pollutants (Ed. Mudd, J. B. & Kozlowski, T. T.). Academic Press, New York, NY: xi + 383 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Tamm, C. O. (1976). Biological Effects of Acid Precipitation in Soil and on Forest Vegetation. Internat. Conf. on the Effects of Acid Precipitation, Telemark, Norway, 14–19 06 1976: 11 pp. (mimeogr.).Google Scholar
Taylor, O. C. (1973). Oxidant Air Pollutant Effects on a Western Coniferous Forest Ecosystem. Task C Report, Statewide Air Pollution Research Center, University of California, Riverside, California: 136 pp. (mimeogr.).Google Scholar
Treshow, M. (1968). The impact of air pollutants on plant populations. Phytopathology, 58, pp. 1108–13.Google Scholar
Treshow, M. (1970). Environment and Plant Response. McGraw-Hill, New York, NY: xv + 422 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
Wood, Charles W. Jr & Nash, T. N. III (1976). Copper smelter effluent effects on Sonoran Desert Vegetation. Ecology, 57, pp. 1311–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodwell, G. M. (1970). Effects of pollution on the structure and physiology of ecosystems. Science, 168, pp. 429–33.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed