Accumulation pattern of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using Plantago lanceolata L. as passive biomonitor

Abstract

Biomonitors are considered a cheap alternative of active air samplers, especially where spatial pattern of air quality is to be monitored, requiring numerous parallel measurements. Of higher plants, Plantago lanceolata L. has been proven a good monitor species with proper accumulation capacity. While biomonitoring studies are difficult to compare due to inherent errors such as the diverse plant material used in different studies, the No. 227 OECD GUIDELINE FOR THE TESTING OF CHEMICALS: Terrestrial Plant Test: Vegetative Vigour Test provides a tool to test extract of aerosol samples under controlled laboratory conditions. In our study, this guideline was followed to experimentally treat Plantago with the aqueous extract of a diesel exhaust sample. Accumulation pattern of polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) was assessed and compared to samples collected in the field. Unlike most studies reported in the literature, both in the experimentally treated and field Plantago samples, high ratio of high molecular weight PAHs was experienced. Distribution pattern of accumulated PAHs showed strong correlation between the experimentally treated sample and most of the field plantain samples, underlying the usefulness of laboratory treatments for bioaccumulation studies.

Pot study using Chlorophytum comosum plants to biomonitor PAH levels in domestic kitchens

“…Capozzi et al (2017) found that Robinia pseudacacia leaves were able to accumulate both LMW and HMW PAHs in a field study. Similar bioaccumulation capacity was reported for the perennial Plantago lanceolata (Bakker et al 1999, Hubai et al 2021. Relatively high share of 5-ring and 6-ring PAHs was found in Poaceae species such as rice (Tao et al 2006) and grass (Borgulat and Staszewski 2018).…”

“…The measurement was based on MSZ EN 15527:2009 (characterization of waste, determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) in waste using gas chromatography mass spectrometry) (more detailed description was given in Hubai et al (2021)). The limit of PAH detection (LOD) in extract was 0.001 μg/L and in plant samples 0.1 μg/kg dry plant material.…”

Cleaning up black carbon using plant strategies

“…Quality improvement is in the form of increasing biodiversity (37)(38)(39) for existing greenspaces in order to eliminate various kinds of pollutants. Various types of outdoor plants have been adequately investigated for their ability to remove aerosols, especially PAHs (40)(41)(42).…”

Usage of Needle and Branches in the Applications of Bioindicator, Source Apportionment and Risk Assessment of PAHs

“…Biomonitoring studies to assess PAH concentrations in various environments have become the standard tool since the late 1980s [12]. Many plants, lichen and tree species (deciduous and evergreen) have been used as bioindicators to determine urban air quality and pollutant sources [7,9,[12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. Indeed, in 2004, the European Parliament proposed the use of bioindicators to assess the impact of PAH on ecosystems by Directive 2004/10/EC.…”