title: Ozone distribution in remote ecologically vulnerable terrain of the southern Sierra Nevada, CA.
abstract: Ozone concentration spatial patterns remain largely uncharacterized across the extensive wilderness areas of the Sierra Nevada, CA, despite being downwind of major pollution sources. These natural areas, including four national parks and four national forests, contain forest species that are susceptible to ozone injury. Forests stressed by ozone are also more vulnerable to other agents of mortality, including insects, pathogens, climate change, and ultimately fire. Here we analyze three years of passive ozone monitor data from the southern Sierra Nevada and interpolate landscape-scale spatial and temporal patterns during the summer-through-fall high ozone concentration period. Segmentation analysis revealed three types of ozone exposure sub-regions: high, low, and variable. Consistently high ozone exposure regions are expected to be most vulnerable to forest mortality. One high exposure sub-region has been documented elsewhere as being further vulnerable to increased drought and fire potential. Identifying such hot-spots of forest vulnerability has utility for prioritizing management.
authors: Center for Forestry, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA. Electronic address: jeanne.panek@gmail.com.
authors: Jeanne
authors: J
authors: Panek
authors: David
authors: D
authors: Saah
authors: Annie
authors: A
authors: Esperanza
authors: Andrzej
authors: A
authors: Bytnerowicz
authors: Witold
authors: W
authors: Fraczek
authors: Ricardo
authors: R
authors: Cisneros
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002140:California; D057231:Climate Change; D017753:Ecosystem; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D010126:Ozone / Q000032:analysis*
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D010126:Ozone
keywords: Forests; Landscape-scale spatial analysis; Ozone; Passive samplers; Vulnerability