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Amazingly, ozone isn't the villain that it was thought to be. Scientists have found that it does not really lead to the decline of natural ecosystems.

It is very important to the earth in the upper atmosphere, at which point it shields out the excess ultraviolet radiation. But the chemical in high concentrations at surface levels are hazardous to health and life.

At the surface, ozone becomes more abundant during the summer, even as plants grow and create chemicals such as isoprene, which react with the hydroxyl radical and nitric oxide to produce ozone.

To check how ozone impacts the growth of plants and natural systems, researchers used a computer model of forest growth and production that was thoroughly tested in a number of ecosystems. Finally, they found that ozone changes the "relative abundance" of tree species. Yet, the overall productivity and the storage of carbon in the ecosystem does not get affected by the ozone pollution.

"This is a rare piece of good news in the ozone and ecology story," said Manuel Lerdau, one of the researchers, in a news release.

However, while the ozone impact cannot be completely dismissed, they do seem to indicate that the impact would be in the realm of "species composition and less at the scale of forest function".

The study was published in the journal Scientific Reports.