Products of photo-oxidation as a decisive factor of the new forest decline? — Results and considerations

Many of the important hypotheses on the new forest decline were checked in the systemic pilot-project ‘Forest Rosalia’; most have low explanatory power in that research site. Of those measured, only ozone will cause considerable, but not all, damage. Other factors seem to exist which have not yet been sufficiently explored. Evidence and calculations are supplied that important among these might be the aldehydes, organic acids, oxidants including peroxides and radicals. These pollutants act together (perhaps even synergistically) with the ozone in a way which might to a considerable degree explain the extent and form of the new forest decline in wide areas of Austria.