[A-HW22] Material transportation and cycling in watershed ecosystems; from headwaters to coastal areas

[AHW22-P04] Impact of COVID-19 on air pollutants influx into forest ecosystems in Japan

*Yuko Itoh¹, Toru Okamoto¹, Keiji Takase², Sakae Horisawa³ (1.Forestry and Forest Products Research Institute, Japan, 2.Ishikawa Prefectural University, 3.Kochi University of Technology)

Atmospheric pollution is one of the most important environmental issues both of the industrialized developed and developing countries. The lockdown of cities and the reduction of economic activity as a countermeasure to the spread of COVID-19 led to a rapid improvement in air pollution in many countries. Clarifying the impact of the changes in atmospheric conditions brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic on the local and global environment is important as data for reconstructing the relationship between developing of human activities and global environmental conservation in the future.

We have been monitoring element cycles in several forest watersheds to determine the effects of human activities in the Tokyo metropolitan area and transboundary air pollutants on forest ecosystems. Therefore, we aimed to clarify the effects of decline human activity due to COVID-19 on forest ecosystems using the long-term monitoring data obtained in Ibaraki, Ishikawa, and Nagano prefectures.