The startling extent to which violent wild fires, similar to those that ravaged large swathes of California recently, affect forests and crops way beyond the boundaries of the blaze has been revealed.
The startling extent to which violent wild fires, similar to those that ravaged large swathes of California recently, affect forests and crops way beyond the boundaries of the blaze has been revealed.
A pioneering new study by Professor Nadine Unger of the University of Exeter and Professor Xu Yue of the Institute of Atmospheric Physics in Beijing, has revealed that pollutants released by the devastating wild fires can affect crop and vegetation growth hundreds of kilometres from the fire impact zone.
The study examined how ozone and aerosols – two by-product pollutants of wildfires – influences healthy plant growth in areas that are seemingly unaffected by the destructive natural disasters.
It found that there was a significant reduction in plant productivity in areas far away from the fire’s borders. The study suggests that fire pollution could pose an increasing threat to regional, and even global, productivity in the warming future world.
Read more at University of Exeter
Image: Image shows the Ozone (O3) injury symptoms on sensitive trees: (A) Ailanthus altissima, (B) Populus tomentosa, (C) Rhus typhina, (D) Ulmus pumila. (Credit: Wuxing Wan)
