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Effects of Acidic Substances on Ecosystems

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Handbook of Air Quality and Climate Change

Abstract

Acidic substances, such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), and their producing acids (sulfuric acid and nitric acid), which are by-products of combustion processes, deposit onto ecosystems as gaseous or particulate matter by dry deposition and/or as acidic precipitation by wet deposition process. Deposition of ammonia, which is emitted from agricultural activities, should also be considered as an input of acidic substances to ecosystems because ammonia can produce acids (H+) due to nitrification by microbial activities in soil. The atmospheric deposition of acidic substances, or simply, acid deposition, may cause damage to plant physiology and disturbance of biogeochemical nutrient cycles, including acidification of soil and stream/lake water. Acid deposition can result in various phenomena, such as reduced growth, tree decline symptoms, reduced biodiversity in epiphytes (bryophytes and lichens), and population changes in aquatic organisms, such as fish, invertebrates, and diatoms. Rapid industrialization has caused acute damage to plants including epiphytes due to direct exposure to acidic substances, such as SO2. As a typical effect of acid deposition, the disappearance of fish due to acidified inland water was observed in Northern Europe and North America. However, with the improvement of air quality, chronic air pollution has not been easily detected because multiple stressors, including biotic (such as insects and diseases) and abiotic (such as climatological, meteorological, geological, and topographical) factors, synergistically cause the above-mentioned phenomena. Moreover, even if the atmospheric deposition of acidic substances decreases, ecosystem recovery is not necessarily observed due to the complexity of ecosystem reactions.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ecological Impact Research Department, Asia Center for Air Pollution Research, Niigata, Japan

    Hiroyuki Sase

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  1. Hiroyuki Sase
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Correspondence to Hiroyuki Sase .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Hajime Akimoto

  2. National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, Japan

    Hiroshi Tanimoto

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Sase, H. (2023). Effects of Acidic Substances on Ecosystems. In: Akimoto, H., Tanimoto, H. (eds) Handbook of Air Quality and Climate Change. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-2760-9_26

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