Ozone Gases Can Lower Streamflow

I read an article called "Ozone affects forest watersheds" by ScienceDaily that was written on Oct 18, 2012. Recent studies by the U.S. Forest Service and Oak Ridge National Laboratory have shown that an increase of Ozone (a greenhouse gas) can affect negatively water-flow in watersheds. It can result in lower flow in rivers, streams, and therefore water available in forests. The increase in Ozone will make the increase in temperature have an even worse effect on watersheds. In an extreme case it could even lead to a drought.

The Ozone amplifies the impact of higher temperatures on reducing streamflow in the southern US. Scientists have known for years that ozone had an effect on crops and leaves but only recently has the effect on streamflow been discovered. The effect on the water flow is more prominent in the late summer in the southern Appalachian Mountains. These statements are supported by this quote;

"From previous studies, we know a lot about ozone's influences on crops and leaves of young trees. However, no studies have investigated the impacts of ozone on water flow in large forested watersheds."

After 26 years of research scientists have learned that the streamflow can be reduced by up to 23 percent in very high ozone areas. The discoveries from this study go against many previous experiments that concluded that an increase in ozone reduced water loss. However, these ecosystems may react differently than scientist think.

Now it is believed that trees and other plants will use more water when there is more ozone. This results in the lower water flow. This can results in less water for humans and animals and may even lead to a drought in an extreme case.


I think that this issue relates to the Lorax in some ways. One way is that the problem is being caused by something that humans (oncelers) do. Also, there is not just one human doing it, it is all of us together causing this problem. Just like in the Lorax the native animals are suffering due to less water being available.

This is dissimilar to the Lorax because in this case the humans (oncelers) are being negatively affect whereas in the Lorax the oncelers were benefited. I can connect this article to lowering lake levels in the western US. I connect this because this problem is primarily caused by the increase in temperature from global warming.

In my opinion this is not that big of a problem compared to other environmental problems in the world. For example the increase in global temperature (global warming) is a much more pertinent problem than isolated droughts is the southeastern US.

I am very surprised that this can reduce streamflow by up to 23% because I expected the effect to be very minimal, not such a large percentage. I am wondering if there are any other places in the world that may be more negatively affected by this decrease in water flow. Humans should definitely work to decrease their output of ozone and other greenhouse gases.