Climate change, ozone and plant life

Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a global air pollution issue and a pivotal greenhouse gas. Even if the emissions of O3-precursors are reduced, it is expected that there will be an increase in the frequency of high polluted days globally due to the changes in weather (e.g., high temperature, reduced precipitation) expected under future climate change (CC), especially in hot-spot areas such as the Mediterranean basin. Although it is now certain that understanding of the role of O3 pollution on natural and urban ecosystems is crucial to any effort to mitigate CC by stabilizing atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations, a full comprehension of the prediction of the overall continual impact of O3 under different realistic environmental scenarios is so far missing. The phytopathology group at the Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment of the University of Pisa has a long-running interest in the issue of plant/O3 interactions, and its activities are aimed to cover the gaps and uncertainties on the complex network among CC, O3 pollution and vegetation.