Editing Acid rain (section)

===Forests and other vegetation===
[[File:Acid rain woods1.JPG|thumb|Acid rain can have severe effects on vegetation. A forest in the [[Black Triangle (region)|Black Triangle]] in Europe.]]
Adverse effects may be indirectly related to acid rain, like the acid's effects on soil (see above) or high concentration of gaseous precursors to acid rain. High altitude forests are especially vulnerable as they are often surrounded by clouds and fog which are more acidic than rain.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Johnson |first1=Dale W. |last2=Turner |first2=John |last3=Kelly |first3=J. M. |title=The effects of acid rain on forest nutrient status |journal=Water Resources Research |date=June 1982 |volume=18 |issue=3 |pages=449–461 |doi=10.1029/WR018i003p00449 |bibcode=1982WRR....18..449J }}</ref>

Plants are capable of adapting to acid rain. On Jinyun Mountain, [[Chongqing]], plant species were seen adapting to new environmental conditions. The affects on the species ranged from being beneficial to detrimental. With natural rainfall or mild acid rainfall, the biochemical and physiological characteristics of plant seedlings were enhanced. However, once the pH decreases below the threshold of 3.5, the acid rain can no longer be beneficial and begins to have negative affects.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Yuxuan |last2=Yang |first2=Feng |last3=Wang |first3=Yunqi |last4=Zheng |first4=Yonglin |last5=Zhu |first5=Junlin |date=May 22, 2023 |title=Effects of Acid Rain Stress on the Physiological and Biochemical Characteristics of Three Plant Species |journal=Forests |volume=14 |issue=5 |pages=1067 |doi=10.3390/f14051067 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023Fore...14.1067Z |issn=1999-4907}}</ref>

Acid rain can negatively impact photosynthesis in plant leaves, when leaves are exposed to a lower pH, photosynthesis is impacted due to the decline in chlorophyll.<ref name="doi.org">{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Yan |last2=Li |first2=Jiahong |last3=Tan |first3=Junyan |last4=Li |first4=Wenbin |last5=Singh |first5=Bhupinder Pal |last6=Yang |first6=Xunan |last7=Bolan |first7=Nanthi |last8=Chen |first8=Xin |last9=Xu |first9=Song |last10=Bao |first10=Yanping |last11=Lv |first11=Daofei |last12=Peng |first12=Anan |last13=Zhou |first13=Yanbo |last14=Wang |first14=Hailong |date=May 2023 |title=An overview of the direct and indirect effects of acid rain on plants: Relationships among acid rain, soil, microorganisms, and plants |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162388 |journal=Science of the Total Environment |volume=873 |pages=162388 |doi=10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.162388 |pmid=36842576 |bibcode= 2023ScTEn.87362388Z|issn=0048-9697}}</ref> Acid rain also has the ability to cause deformation to leaves at a cellular level, examples include; tissue scaring and changes to the stomatal, epidermis and mesophyll cells.<ref name="ReferenceB">{{Cite journal |last1=Rodríguez-Sánchez |first1=Verónica M. |last2=Rosas |first2=Ulises |last3=Calva-Vásquez |first3=Germán |last4=Sandoval-Zapotitla |first4=Estela |date=July 8, 2020 |title=Does Acid Rain Alter the Leaf Anatomy and Photosynthetic Pigments in Urban Trees? |journal=Plants|volume=9 |issue=7 |pages=862 |doi=10.3390/plants9070862 |doi-access=free |issn=2223-7747 |pmc=7411892 |pmid=32650420|bibcode=2020Plnts...9..862R }}</ref> Additional impacts of acid rain includes a decline in cuticle thickness present on the leaf surface.<ref name="doi.org"/><ref name="ReferenceB"/> Because acid rain damages leaves, this directly impacts a plants ability to have a strong canopy cover, a decline in canopy cover can lead plants to be more vulnerable to diseases.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Dead or dying trees often appear in areas impacted by acid rain. Acid rain causes aluminum to leach from the soil, posing risks to both plant and animal life. Furthermore, it strips the soil of critical minerals and nutrients necessary for tree growth.

At higher altitudes, acidic fog and clouds can deplete nutrients from tree foliage, leading to discolored or dead leaves and needles. This depletion compromises the trees' ability to absorb sunlight, weakening them and diminishing their capacity to endure cold conditions.<ref>{{Cite web |last=US EPA |first=OAR |date=March 16, 2016 |title=Effects of Acid Rain |url=https://www.epa.gov/acidrain/effects-acid-rain |access-date=2024-04-12 |website=epa.gov}}</ref>

Other plants can also be damaged by acid rain, but the effect on food crops is minimized by the application of lime and fertilizers to replace lost nutrients. In cultivated areas, limestone may also be added to increase the ability of the soil to keep the pH stable, but this tactic is largely unusable in the case of wilderness lands. When calcium is leached from the needles of red spruce, these trees become less cold tolerant and exhibit winter injury and even death.<ref>DeHayes, D.H., Schaberg, P.G. and G.R. Strimbeck. (2001). [https://books.google.com/books?id=Ph5_2n_FTgwC Red Spruce Hardiness and Freezing Injury Susceptibility]. In: F. Bigras, ed. Conifer Cold Hardiness. Kluwer Academic Publishers, the Netherlands {{ISBN|0-7923-6636-0}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Lazarus |first1=Brynne E |last2=Schaberg |first2=Paul G |last3=Hawley |first3=Gary J |last4=DeHayes |first4=Donald H |title=Landscape-scale spatial patterns of winter injury to red spruce foliage in a year of heavy region-wide injury |journal=Canadian Journal of Forest Research |date=2006 |volume=36 |issue=1 |pages=142–152 |doi=10.1139/x05-236 |bibcode=2006CaJFR..36..142L }}</ref> Acid rain may also affect crop productivity by necrosis or changes to soil nutrients, which ultimately prevent plants from reaching maturity.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Evans |first=L S |date=September 1984 |title=Acidic Precipitation Effects on Terrestrial Vegetation |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.py.22.090184.002145 |journal=Annual Review of Phytopathology|volume=22 |issue=1 |pages=397–420 |doi=10.1146/annurev.py.22.090184.002145 |bibcode=1984AnRvP..22..397E |issn=0066-4286}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zhong |first1=Jiawen |last2=Liu |first2=Yeqing |last3=Chen |first3=Xinheng |last4=Ye |first4=Zihao |last5=Li |first5=Yongtao |last6=Li |first6=Wenyan |date=January 2024 |title=The impact of acid rain on cadmium phytoremediation in sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) |url=https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122778 |journal=Environmental Pollution |volume=340 |issue=Pt 2 |pages=122778 |doi=10.1016/j.envpol.2023.122778 |pmid=37863250 |bibcode=2024EPoll.34022778Z |issn=0269-7491}}</ref>