Biological monitoring of ozone: the twenty-year Italian experience

Abstract

Tropospheric ozone is a growing environmental menace in Italy and in the whole Mediterranean basin. The importance of active biomonitoring of this pollutant with hypersensitive Bel-W3 tobacco plants is stressed, and several examples of field studies carried out in Italy with this technique are presented. Current limitations are discussed, with special emphasis on data quality assessment and the opportunity of adopting easy-to-use kits based on tobacco germlings instead of adult plants. A standardization of methodologies (from cultivation to scoring and data elaboration), also at an international level, is strongly felt to be needed, in order to get official acknowledgement of biomonitoring procedures. Potential educational implications, with the active involvement of students and environmentalists, are shown. Other biological indicators are used, namely sensitive and resistant white clover (Trifolium repens) clones (as descriptors of biomass reduction in crops species) and Centaurea jacea (brown knapweed) as a model species to evaluate the relationship between ozone exposure and effects on the performance and injury symptoms of native plants which are largely used in the framework of European programmes.

Identification of ozone stress in Indian rice through foliar injury and differential protein profile

“…This specific nature of foliar injury formation had been used worldwide for the monitoring of O 3 with different plants. Tobacco cv Bel W3, clover, and brown knapweed have established themselves as reliable and sensitive bioindicator of O 3 (Nali et al 2006(Nali et al , 2007Laffray et al 2007). Laffray et al (2007) showed that foliar injury developed in Tobacco cv Bel W3 against O 3 could be as reliable as O 3 analyzer.…”

“…Nowadays, biomonitoring could be taken as powerful tool for understanding the link between the causes and effects of diverse pollutants (Nali et al 2006). In different programs in Europe and America, injury symptoms of native plants were largely used to evaluate the relationship between O 3 exposure and effect (Manning 1997;Klumpp et al 2002;Nali et al 2007;Laffray et al 2007).…”

“…Gombert et al (2006) in France have found that responses of lichens and tobacco cv Bel W3 as bioindicator against O 3 , and other air pollutants were really commendable. Studies of Nali et al (2006Nali et al ( , 2007 performed in Italy with brown knapweed, clover, and tobacco cv Bel W3 proved the usefulness of observing plant injuries against O 3 and other air pollutants. Laffray et al (2007) have also shown that at lower altitudes, systematic study of foliar injury in tobacco cv Bel W3 plant could easily replace the O 3 analyzer for the assessment of O 3 levels.…”

Ozone Pollution and its Bioindication

“…1989). In spite of these disadvantages, tobacco has been used for ozone biomonitoring even in long-term experiments (Nali et al, 2006). It was demonstrated, that extent of ozone injuries on tobacco leaves is highly informative as regards the amount of ozone in ambient air (Ribas and Penuelas, 2002).…”

Transport Mechanism of Chemical Species in a Pin-water Atmospheric Discharge driven by Negative Voltage

“…Both the rotational and vibrational temperature of N 2 were evaluated from the spectrum of the N 2 second positive system by the fitting curve method [15]- [19].…”