In recent decades, significant changes have been observed in the atmospheric pollutant emissions and deposition in the mountain regions of Central Europe. Pollution caused significant deforestation, but the level of tree damage differs, even between neighboring locations. Thus, it is particularly...

Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) are an important class of pollutants which mostly come out from incomplete combustion of organic materials including fossil fuels. For this reason, they are often found at high concentrations in cities, contaminating air with their gas and particle phase....

Although plants are often exposed to atmospheric nanoparticles (NPs), the mechanism of NP deposition and their effects on physiology and metabolism, and particularly in combination with other stressors, are not yet understood. Exploring interactions between stressors is particularly important for...

Tree rings provide valuable insight into past environmental changes. This study aimed to evaluate perturbations in tree ring width (TRW) and δ¹⁵N alongside soil acidity and nutrient availability gradients caused by the contrasting legacy of air pollution (nitrogen [N] and sulphur [S] deposition)...

The aim of this work was to analyse the relationship between anatomical parameters of spruce tracheids and climatic factors and air pollution load, in the period before, during and after the maximum air pollution load. In this study we used the method of dividing annual rings into a number of...

Genotoxic compounds, as common contaminants of the air environment, are of interest in air pollution monitoring. There are several methods to determine the level of these contaminants in different localities, many of which may be difficult to access with the use of conventional active and passive...

Antimony (Sb) is a toxic metalloid, which has been increasingly used in the brake lining of vehicles, and increased concentrations have been found in soils near abundant traffic. However, since very few investigations of Sb accumulation in urban vegetation have been undertaken there exists a...

Tropospheric ozone (O₃) is a detrimental air pollutant causing phytotoxic effects. Several O₃ indices are used to assess the risk for vegetation, e.g., the exposure-based AOT40 (accumulated ozone exposure over a threshold of 40 ppb) and the stomatal-flux based POD₁ (Phytotoxic Ozone Dose above a...

The Index of Atmospheric Purity (IAP) is a popular tool used for the assessment of air quality in polluted urban areas, on the basis of phytosociological data of epiphytic lichen communities. We hypothesized that this indicator could also be used in less polluted forest areas to determine the...

The aim of this research was to quantify the content of hazardous elements in the needles of Norway spruce (Picea abies L.) in the natural habitats that were accumulated from thermal power plants, mines, and metal processing industry. Fifteen natural populations of the Norway spruce were sampled...