DETECTING OZONE AND DEMONSTRATING ITS PHYTOTOXICITY IN FORESTED AREAS OF POLAND - A PILOT-STUDY

Ambient concentrations of ozone (O3) were measured and O3 phytotoxicity to tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum L.) was demonstrated in several forest locations in Poland during a pilot study from July-October, 1991. At southern and central locations in Poland, the 24-hour average O3, concentrations measured with a UV absorption photometer were in the range of 32-55 ppb, and the corresponding 1-hour maxima in the range of 39-83 ppb. At these locations longer period (four to fifteen days) average concentrations were determined using O3 passive samplers (DGA, Inc.) and were reaching 60 ppb, while at Bialowieza in eastern Poland O3 concentrations averaged less than 40 ppb. In Szarow, near the Niepolomice Forest in southern Poland, 1-hour O3 maxima estimated from the data obtained using passive samplers were about 105 ppb in early September. At several locations in southern and central Poland, extensive O3 injury was determined on O3-sensitive Bel W-3 tobacco plants; such injury did not occur in the Bialowieza Forest of eastern Poland The results of this pilot study indicate that O3 is present at phytotoxic levels in southern and central Poland.