Effect of simulated acid fog on needles of fir seedlings

Fir seedlings (Abies firma) were treated with simulated acid fog from September 1992 to April 1995. The simulated acid fog was at pH 3 and consisted of 1 mM nitric acid, 1 mM sodium chloride, and 1 mM ammonium sulfate. In 1993 spring, needles of the seedlings treated with the simulated acid fog became greener than those of the control, which were treated with pH 5 fog water of one hundredfold diluted solution of pH 3 fog water. However, from June 1993 in the acid-fog-treated seedlings, the needles shed, and the growth in height declined. Many buds with their bearing sprouts died in 1993, and few twig tips put forth new sprouts in the spring of 1994. Other symptoms also developed because of the treatment with the simulated acid fog: the water loss from the needles increased and the needles became susceptible to water stress, the weight per area of the needles decreased, and chlorophyll concentration increased. The results were observational in nature and the data were generated from plants exposed to the atmosphere in Yokohama so that there is a possibility of interaction with other pollutants. The long-term treatment with simulated acid fog at pH 3 induced a decline of fir seedling growth and general well-being, although the data warrant further study of the effects of chronic exposure of acid fog on plant growth.