Effects of environmental stress on forest crown condition in Europe. Part II: Estimation of stress induced by meteorology and air pollutants

In order to assess the relationship betweenenvironmental stress and crown condition of foresttrees monitored since 1986 in Europe, estimates ofstress factors, including temperature stress, droughtstress and air pollution stress, were derived with thebest data, methods and models currently available.This paper presents information on the methods used toderive such stress factors, and on the overall ranges,the temporal trends, the spatial distribution and thereliability of the calculated stress factors. Thetemperature stress indices did not show much temporalvariation between 1985 to 1995. As expected spatialpatterns were north-south orientated, going fromcolder northern regions to warmer southern regions.The calculated relative transpiration showed a morecomplex pattern, coinciding to a large extend withpatterns of rainfall and temperature. Potential aciddeposition decreased between 1986 and 1992, butremained fairly constant after 1992. The strongdecrease was mainly the result of the decrease inSO_x deposition, and to a small decrease inNO_y deposition. Highest levels of the S and Ndeposition were calculated in Central and WesternEurope. Base cation deposition was largest in coastalareas and in southern Europe. This is mainly due tosoil dust, Sahara dust and sea salt. Base cationdeposition can compensate almost entirely for thepotential inputs in the south of Europe, whereas incentral Europe it equalled about 25% of thepotential acid input. A comparison between sitespecific modelled deposition and deposition derivedfrom throughfall data showed that the total aciddeposition is usually overestimated by the model,whereas the total nitrogen deposition isunderestimated, especially at plots with high nitrogenloads. There is, however, a significant correlationbetween measured and modelled data for all S and Ndeposition, thus allowing their use in a statistical analyses.