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Plants are subject to trade-offs among growth strategies such that adaptations for optimal growth in one condition can preclude optimal growth in another. Thus, we predicted that a plant species that responds positively to one global change treatment would be less likely than average to respond positively to another treatment, particularly for pairs of treatments that favor distinct traits. We examined plant species’ abundances in 39 global change experiments manipulating two or more of the following: CO₂, nitrogen, phosphorus, water, temperature, or disturbance. Overall, the directional response of a species to one treatment was 13% more likely than expected to oppose its response to a another single-factor treatment. This tendency was detectable across the global data set, but held little predictive power for individual treatment combinations or within individual experiments. Although trade-offs in the ability to respond to different global change treatments exert discernible global effects, other forces obscure their influence in local communities.

Plants are subject to tradeoffs among growth strategies such that adaptations for optimal growth in one condition can preclude optimal growth in another. Thus, we predicted that a plant species that responds positively to one global change treatment would be less likely than average to respond positively to another treatment, particularly for pairs of treatments that favor distinct traits. We examined plant species abundances in 39 global change experiments manipulating two or more of the following: CO2, nitrogen, phosphorus, water, temperature, or disturbance. Overall, the directional response of a species to one treatment was 13% more likely than expected to oppose its response to a another single-factor treatment. This tendency was detectable across the global dataset but held little predictive power for individual treatment combinations or within individual experiments. While tradeoffs in the ability to respond to different global change treatments exert discernible global effects, other forces obscure their influence in local communities.

Report published by Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Edinburgh, UK on behalf of the International Nitrogen Management System (INMS). Freely available to download from the Official link.

Global change drivers (GCDs) are expected to alter community structure and consequently, the services that ecosystems provide. Yet, few experimental investigations have examined effects of GCDs on plant community structure across multiple ecosystem types, and those that do exist present conflicting patterns. In an unprecedented global synthesis of over 100 experiments that manipulated factors linked to GCDs, we show that herbaceous plant community responses depend on experimental manipulation length and number of factors manipulated. We found that plant communities are fairly resistant to experimentally manipulated GCDs in the short term (<10 y). In contrast, long-term (≥10 y) experiments show increasing community divergence of treatments from control conditions. Surprisingly, these community responses occurred with similar frequency across the GCD types manipulated in our database. However, community responses were more common when 3 or more GCDs were simultaneously manipulated, suggesting the emergence of additive or synergistic effects of multiple drivers, particularly over long time periods. In half of the cases, GCD manipulations caused a difference in community composition without a corresponding species richness difference, indicating that species reordering or replacement is an important mechanism of community responses to GCDs and should be given greater consideration when examining consequences of GCDs for the biodiversity–ecosystem function relationship. Human activities are currently driving unparalleled global changes worldwide. Our analyses provide the most comprehensive evidence to date that these human activities may have widespread impacts on plant community composition globally, which will increase in frequency over time and be greater in areas where communities face multiple GCDs simultaneously.

The evolution of potential detrimental impacts of ozone pollution for wheat crop yields over Europe over the 1990 — 2010 period is assessed on the basis of ozone exposure (using the Accumulated Ozone over a Threshold, AOT40) or ozone dose (using the Phytotoxic Ozone Dose, POD). Substantial decrease of exposure is found on average over Europe, leading to wheat crop yield losses being reduced from 18.2 % to 10.2 % between 1990 and 2010 according to AOT40 trends. However, because of compensation between opposite trends for ozone peaks and ozone background, but also because of trends in other environmental factors, the actual ozone dose does not change significantly. So that wheat crop yield losses derived with the POD metric are estimated to 14.9 % and 13.3 % in 1990 and 2010, respectively.

A brief historical review is given on the development and milestones of the moss biomonitoring technique used to study atmospheric deposition of trace elements, nitrogen, organic persistent pollutants (POPs) and radionuclides of technogenic and natural origin in Europe. The relevance of these studies to the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) is discussed. Examples of the long-term activity of the ICP Vegetation (International Cooperative Programme on Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops) established in 1987 are given to illustrate the tendencies in behavior on a large scale of air pollutants such as heavy metals, nitrogen and persistent organic pollutants. In agreement with the long-term strategy of the LRTAP Convention to enhance participation and improve air quality in Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and South Eastern Europe, efforts to extend the moss survey to former republics of the USSR such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, and Uzbekistan were successfully undertaken. Around 15 teams were formed in Russia to cover moss sampling in Northern and Central Russia, Western Siberia, and the Far East of Russia (Kamchatka and Sakhalin). To date, 36 countries expressed their desire to participate in the 2015-2016 moss survey. Analytical methods and approaches to data interpretation are reviewed.

Here we look back at the activities and achievements in the 28 years of the International Cooperative Programme on the Effects of Air Pollution on Natural Vegetation and Crops (ICP Vegetation). The ICP Vegetation is a subsidiary body of the Working Group on Effects of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LTRAP), established in 1979. An important role of the ICP Vegetation is to provide evidence for air pollution impacts on vegetation in support of policy development and review of the LRTAP Convention and its Protocols. The activities and participation in the ICP Vegetation have grown over the years. The main activities include: • Collate evidence of ozone impacts on vegetation, assess spatial patterns and temporal trends across Europe; • Develop dose-response relationships, establish critical levels for vegetation and provide European risk maps of ozone impacts; • Reviewing the literature on ozone impacts on vegetation and produce thematic scientific reports and policy-relevant brochures; • Determine spatial patterns and temporal trends of heavy metals, nitrogen and persistent organic pollutants concentrations in mosses as a biomonitoring tool of atmospheric deposition of these compounds.

Background, aim and scope Since 1990 the UN ECE Heavy Metals in Mosses Surveys provide data inventories of the atmospheric heavy metal bioaccumulation across Europe. In the survey 2005 the nitrogen (N) accumulation was measured for the first time in most of the participating countries. In Germany, the surveys were conducted in close cooperation of the relevant authorities of both the Federal Republic and the sixteen states. Therefore, statistical evaluations of the moss survey data with regard to the whole German territory and single federal states are of interest. This article concentrates on Saxony, dealing with the mapping of the spatiotemporal trends of metal accumulation from 1990 to 2005, the spatial patterns of nitrogen accumulation in 2005, and the spatial variability of bioaccumulation due to characteristics of the sampling sites and their surroundings. Exemplified for Cadmium (Cd), Mercury (Hg) and Lead (Pb) the metal loads in mosses are furthermore related to modelled deposition data provided from the European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme (EMEP). Materials and methods In Saxony Pleurozium schreberi (1990, 1995 most frequent moss species, thereafter second most), Hypnum cupressiforme (1990, 1995 second most, thereafter most frequent moss species), Scleropodium purum and Brachytecium rutabulum (1995, 2000) were sampled at up to 83 sites. All sampling sites were described with regard to topographical and ecological characteristics and several criteria to be fulfilled according to the guideline. Together with the measurements this metadata was combined with other information regarding land use in the surroundings of the sampling sites in the WebGIS MossMet. The spatial structure of the metal bioaccumulation was analysed and modelled by variogram analyses and then mapped by applying different kriging techniques. Furthermore, multi metal indices (MMI) were derived for both the sampling sites and raster maps with help of percentile statistics: The MMI1990

The ICP Vegetation is an international programme that reports on the effects of air pollutants on natural vegetation and crops [1]. It reports to the Working Group on Effects (WGE) of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). In particular, the ICP Vegetation focuses on the following air pollution problems: quantifying the risks to vegetation posed by ozone pollution and the atmospheric deposition of heavy metals and nitrogen to vegetation. In addition, the ICP Vegetation is taking into consideration impacts of nitrogen on vegetation (including interactions with ozone), consequences for biodiversity and the interactions between air pollutants and climate change. At the 23rd Task Force Meeting we will report on the achievements of the ICP Vegetation in 2009, in particular regarding progress made with items to be reported to the WGE in 2010 [2]: • Ozone biomonitoring experiment with bean in 2009; • Ozone impacts in Mediterranean areas; • Ozone flux modelling methods and their application to different climatic regions; • Outcome of workshop on ‘Flux-based assessment of ozone effects for air pollution policy’; • Progress with European heavy metals and nitrogen in mosses survey 2010/11; • Relationship between heavy metal concentration in mosses and EMEP modelled deposition. In addition, we will discuss the contribution of ICP Vegetation to the common workplan items of the WGE for 2010 [2]. Apart from looking back to our achievements in 2009, throughout the Task Force Meeting we will be discussing our future plans, in particular the medium-term workplan of the ICP Vegetation (2011 – 2012).

The ICP Vegetation is an international programme that reports on the effects of air pollutants on natural vegetation and crops [1]. It reports to the Working Group on Effects (WGE) of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). In particular, the ICP Vegetation focuses on the following air pollution problems: quantifying the risks to vegetation posed by ozone pollution and the atmospheric deposition of heavy metals and nitrogen to vegetation. In addition, the ICP Vegetation is taking into consideration impacts of nitrogen on vegetation (including interactions with ozone), consequences for biodiversity and the interactions between air pollutants and climate change. At the 23rd Task Force Meeting we will report on the achievements of the ICP Vegetation in 2009, in particular regarding progress made with items to be reported to the WGE in 2010 [2]: • Ozone biomonitoring experiment with bean in 2009; • Ozone impacts in Mediterranean areas; • Ozone flux modelling methods and their application to different climatic regions; • Outcome of workshop on ‘Flux-based assessment of ozone effects for air pollution policy’; • Progress with European heavy metals and nitrogen in mosses survey 2010/11; • Relationship between heavy metal concentration in mosses and EMEP modelled deposition. In addition, we will discuss the contribution of ICP Vegetation to the common workplan items of the WGE for 2010 [2]. Apart from looking back to our achievements in 2009, throughout the Task Force Meeting we will be discussing our future plans, in particular the medium-term workplan of the ICP Vegetation (2011 – 2012).

Background, aim and scope Since 1990 the UN ECE Heavy Metals in Mosses Surveys provide data inventories of the atmospheric heavy metal bioaccumulation across Europe. In the survey 2005 the nitrogen accumulation was measured for the first time in most of the participating countries. In Germany, the surveys were conducted in close cooperation of the relevant authorities of both the Federal Republic and the sixteen states. Therefore, statistical evaluations of the moss survey data with regard to the whole German territory and single federal states are of interest. This article concentrates on Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, dealing with the mapping of the spatiotemporal trends of metal accumulation from 1990 to 2005, the spatial patterns of nitrogen accumulation in 2005, and the spatial variability of bioaccumulation due to characteristics of the sampling sites and their surroundings. Materials and methods The bioaccumulation of up to 40 trace elements in mosses was determined according to a Europe-wide harmonised methodology. The according experimental protocol regulates the selection of sampling sites and moss species, the chemical analysis and quality control and the classification of the measured values for mapping spatial patterns. In Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania all sampling sites were described with regard to topographical and ecological characteristics and several criteria to be fulfilled according to the guideline. Together with the measurements this metadata was combined with other information regarding land use in the surroundings of the sampling sites in the WebGIS MossMet. The spatial structure of the metal bioaccumulation was analysed and modelled by variogram analyses and then mapped by applying different kriging techniques. Furthermore, multi metal indices (MMI) were derived for both the sampling sites and raster maps with help of percentile statistics: The MMI1990–2005 was calculated for As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Ti, V and Zn. The statistical associa

The ICP Vegetation is an international programme that reports on the effects of air pollutants on natural vegetation and crops [1]. It reports to the Working Group on Effects (WGE) of the UNECE Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP). In particular, the ICP Vegetation focuses on the following air pollution problems: quantifying the risks to vegetation posed by ozone pollution and the atmospheric deposition of heavy metals and nitrogen to vegetation. In addition, the ICP Vegetation is taking into consideration impacts of nitrogen on vegetation (including interactions with ozone), consequences for biodiversity and the interactions between air pollutants and climate change. At the 23rd Task Force Meeting we will report on the achievements of the ICP Vegetation in 2009, in particular regarding progress made with items to be reported to the WGE in 2010 [2]: • Ozone biomonitoring experiment with bean in 2009; • Ozone impacts in Mediterranean areas; • Ozone flux modelling methods and their application to different climatic regions; • Outcome of workshop on ‘Flux-based assessment of ozone effects for air pollution policy’; • Progress with European heavy metals and nitrogen in mosses survey 2010/11; • Relationship between heavy metal concentration in mosses and EMEP modelled deposition. In addition, we will discuss the contribution of ICP Vegetation to the common workplan items of the WGE for 2010 [2]. Apart from looking back to our achievements in 2009, throughout the Task Force Meeting we will be discussing our future plans, in particular the medium-term workplan of the ICP Vegetation (2011 – 2012).

Purpose Under the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution mosses are used to map the bioaccumulation of heavy metals and nitrogen throughout Europe. To this end, since 1990 mosses were sampled and analyzed chemically every five years. The goal of this article is to apply the moss survey data for assessing the bioaccumulation of Cd, Pb and N in German Natura 2000 Sites of Community Importance (SCI). Methods The temporal trends of the heavy metal bioaccumulation within SCIs were analyzed using a multi metal index (MMI) calculated by means of geostatistics and percentile statistics. For nitrogen, only monitoring values for 2005 were available for the assessment. The geostatistically estimated values of the metal and nitrogen concentrations in mosses were transformed to estimated deposition values by use of regression analyses. Subsequently, the results were integrated into the assessment of the German SCIs. Results Highest metal loads within SCIs were detected in 1990, followed by a continuous decrease to 2000 and a significant increase until 2005. Regarding N, a median of 1.5 % nitrogen in the dry mass was calculated. The deposition values calculated from the moss estimates resulted in median values of 0.33 g/ha/a for Cd, 8.2 g/ha/a for Pb and 16.7 kg/ha/a for nitrogen. Conclusions The Moss-Monitoring is the only environmental monitoring programme which enables statistically sound estimations of the exposure of SCI to environmental contaminants in terms of heavy metal and nitrogen deposition and bioaccumulation.

In recent decades, mosses have been used successfully as biomonitors of atmospheric deposition of heavy metals. Since 1990, the European moss survey has been repeated at five-yearly intervals. Although spatial patterns were metal-specific, in 2005 the lowest concentrations of metals in mosses were generally found in Scandinavia, the Baltic States and northern parts of the UK; the highest concentrations were generally found in Belgium and south-eastern Europe. The recent decline in emission and subsequent deposition of heavy metals across Europe has resulted in a decrease in the heavy metal concentration in mosses for the majority of metals. Since 1990, the concentration in mosses has declined the most for arsenic, cadmium, iron, lead and vanadium (52–72%), followed by copper, nickel and zinc (20–30%), with no significant reduction being observed for mercury (12% since 1995) and chromium (2%). However, temporal trends were country-specific with sometimes increases being found. Since 1990, heavy metal concentrations in mosses have declined in Europe for most metals