Acid Deposition - Air Pollution and Global Warming: History, Science, and Solutions - page 230

(a)

(b)

Figure 10.5. (a) Acidified forest, Oberwiesenthal, Germany, near the border with the Czech Republic, in 1991.
The trees are of the Picea family. Photo by Stefan Rosengren, available from Johnner. (b) Acidified forest in the
Erzgebirge Mountains, north of the town of Most, Czech Republic, taken in 1987. Photo by Owen Bricker,
USGS.

Due to acid deposition, whole forests have been dec-
imated. In Poland and the Czech Republic, 60 to 80 per-
cent of trees died in the 1980s and 1990s (Stockholm
Environment Institute, 1998). Figure 10.5a shows a for-
est near the border between Germany and the Czech

Republic in which all the lower foliage died. Figure
10.5b shows a forest near Most, Czech Republic, that
was decimated by acid deposition and air pollution. For-
est damage is also evident in central Europe, the United
States, Canada, China, Japan, and many other countries.