Biology 1st Edition by Jerome Krueger, Kendra Hill, Robert Noyd

Exercise 14

Coal-fired power plants are a common sight in many communities. Over the past century, decades of pollution contributed to a phenomenon called acid rain. Acid rain is caused by emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which react with the water molecules in the atmosphere to produce acids. Eventually, the acids fall as rain, altering the pH of soils. How would the nutrient status of downwind plant communities be affected?