Could Ornamental Plants Serve as Passive Biomonitors in Urban Areas? |
| |
| Authors: | Sabina Rossini Oliva Pasi Rautio |
| |
| Institution: | (1) Department of Plant Biology and Ecology, Universidad de Sevilla, Av.da Reina Mercedes s/n, Apartado de Correo 1095, 41080 Sevilla, Spain;(2) Finnish Forest Research Institute, Parkano research station, Kaironiementie 54, FIN-39700 Parkano, Finland |
| |
| Abstract: | A search for cheap and efficient method to monitor atmospheric particulates in city centres has raised new interest to measure foliar element concentrations after the role of particulate pollution for respiratory illnesses was discovered. Leaf samples of Golden dewdrop (Duranta repens L.) collected in Palermo (South of Italy) between 1998 and 2000 were analysed to study the possible use of this shrub as a passive biomonitor for atmospheric pollution in urban areas. Concentrations of Ba, Cd, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Pb and Zn were determined from leaf samples collected from six sampling sites representing either (a) areas of high traffic density or (b) areas not directly affected by the city traffic (e.g. gardens). Most of the elements showed a significant temporal variation but no consistent trends could be seen, i.e. the highest (or lowest) values were not detected consistently at some particular time of the year. Furthermore temporal changes were of same magnitude in polluted versus less polluted areas; no statistically significant interaction between pollution level and collection period was detected. Pollution level (traffic density) was the primary factor to explain spatial variation only in the case of foliar Mg concentrations. On the other hand, variation in foliar concentrations between sampling sites (irrespective of the pollution level) was large. Our results suggest that particulate deposition needs to be quite high before spatial segregation can be done on the basis of foliar element concentrations. |
| |
| Keywords: | biomonitoring atmospheric pollution foliar concentrations traffic particles |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
