TY - JOUR
T1 - Airborne trace element pollution in 11 European cities assessed by exposure of standardised ryegrass cultures
AU - Klumpp, Andreas
AU - Ansel, Wolfgang
AU - Klumpp, Gabriele
AU - Breuer, Jörn
AU - Vergne, Philippe
AU - Sanz, Maria José
AU - Rasmussen, Stine
AU - Ro-Poulsen, Helge
AU - Artola, Angela Ribas
AU - Penuelas, Josep
AU - He, Shang
AU - Garrec, Jean Pierre
AU - Calatayud, Vincent
N1 - Keywords: Air quality; Biomonitoring; Trace elements; Particulate matter; Lolium multiflorum; Urban ambient air
PY - 2009
Y1 - 2009
N2 - Within a European biomonitoring programme, Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) was employed as accumulative bioindicator of airborne trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Sb, V, Zn) in urban agglomerations. Applying a highly standardised method, grass cultures were exposed for consecutive periods of four weeks each to ambient air at up to 100 sites in 11 cities during 2000-2002. Results of the 2001 exposure experiments revealed a clear differentiation of trace element pollution within and among local monitoring networks. Pollution was influenced particularly by traffic emissions. Especially Sb, Pb, Cr, Fe, and Cu exhibited a very uneven distribution within the municipal areas with strong accumulation in plants from traffic-exposed sites in the city centres and close to major roads, and moderate to low levels in plants exposed at suburban or rural sites. Accumulation of Ni and V was influenced by other emission sources. The biomonitoring sites located in Spanish city centres featured a much higher pollution load by trace elements than those in other cities of the network, confirming previously reported findings obtained by chemical analyses of dust deposition and aerosols. At some heavily-trafficked sites, legal thresholds for Cu, Pb, and V contents in foodstuff and animal feed were reached or even surpassed. The study confirmed that the standardised grass exposure is a useful and reliable tool to monitor and to assess environmental levels of potentially toxic compounds of particulate matter.
AB - Within a European biomonitoring programme, Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) was employed as accumulative bioindicator of airborne trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb, Sb, V, Zn) in urban agglomerations. Applying a highly standardised method, grass cultures were exposed for consecutive periods of four weeks each to ambient air at up to 100 sites in 11 cities during 2000-2002. Results of the 2001 exposure experiments revealed a clear differentiation of trace element pollution within and among local monitoring networks. Pollution was influenced particularly by traffic emissions. Especially Sb, Pb, Cr, Fe, and Cu exhibited a very uneven distribution within the municipal areas with strong accumulation in plants from traffic-exposed sites in the city centres and close to major roads, and moderate to low levels in plants exposed at suburban or rural sites. Accumulation of Ni and V was influenced by other emission sources. The biomonitoring sites located in Spanish city centres featured a much higher pollution load by trace elements than those in other cities of the network, confirming previously reported findings obtained by chemical analyses of dust deposition and aerosols. At some heavily-trafficked sites, legal thresholds for Cu, Pb, and V contents in foodstuff and animal feed were reached or even surpassed. The study confirmed that the standardised grass exposure is a useful and reliable tool to monitor and to assess environmental levels of potentially toxic compounds of particulate matter.
U2 - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.09.040
DO - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2008.09.040
M3 - Journal article
SN - 1352-2310
VL - 43
SP - 329
EP - 339
JO - Atmospheric Environment
JF - Atmospheric Environment
IS - 2
ER -
