The International Conference on Ozone and Plants was held on May 18-21, 2014, at Xijiao Hotel, Beijing, China, jointly hosted by State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the IUFRO Research Group 7.01.00 “Impacts of Air Pollution and Climate Change on Forest Ecosystems” and ICP-Vegetation. Prof. Zhaozhong Feng and Prof. Elena Paoletti co-chaired this conference. More than 40 Chinese scholars and more than 60 foreign experts from 17 countries gathered together to discuss the impact of ground-level ozone on plant growth by 48 oral presentations and 40 posters. 

Five keynoters introduced ozone distribution and its impacts on plant growth in China (Dr. Zhaozhong Feng), ozone pollution in East Asia (Dr. Hajime Akimoto), micrometeorological measurements of ozone fluxes (Dr. Stanislaw Cieslik), signalling processes induced by ozone (Dr. Jaakko Kangasjärvi), and ozone risk assessment (Dr. Lisa Emberson). The conference was an important opportunity to summarise the most updated scientific knowledge about ozone atmospheric chemistry and exchanges with the biosphere; ozone monitoring, modelling and risk assessment; the responses of plant and ecosystem to ozone exposure.  

The conference reports covered all aspects of current studies of ground-level zone, such as ozone distribution and its transport mechanisms, genetic control mechanisms, field injury survey, on-site simulation experiments, and assessment on regional loss. Several important recommendations were summarized: 1. There is a need to set-up coordinated surface ozone monitoring programmes across the world to validate modelled surface ozone concentrations and deposition. 2. There is a need to collate existing field-based evidence for the impacts of ambient ozone on vegetation. 3. There is a need to establish further free-air ozone exposure facilities to quantify the adverse impact of ozone on vegetation under field conditions. 4. There is a need to develop ozone dose-response relationships and critical levels for vegetation, in particular under Asian conditions. 5. There is a need to include sensitivity for ozone in crop breeding programmes to mitigate the threat of ozone pollution to food security. 6. There is a need to communicate to stakeholders - such as crop breeders, farmers and policy makers - the severity of the threat of ozone pollution to food security, carbon sequestration and other ecosystem services affecting human wellbeing. 

This conference provided an efficient platform for academic exchange among experts from different countries. It demonstrated high-level research on ozone from Chinese scientists, and also played an active role in promoting the study on the impact of ozone on ecosystems in China. 

Report by State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology 

May 25, 2014