Abstract
Objective: Air pollution is one of the major global tribulations in many developing cities around the world. Addressing this sort of pollution is more intricate than other ecological challenges. As pollution is an upcoming issue, we aimed at assessing the air pollution tolerant plants from roadside exposed to vehicular air pollution from two different locations in Thane city.Methods: In the present study, commonly available ten roadside tree species selected from polluted and control area, and their air pollution tolerance index (APTI) determined in Thane city. The biochemical parameters viz. pH, ascorbic acid, total chlorophyll, relative water content (RWC) were considered to calculate APTI by using standard method.Results: The study shows that the control site has more APTI than the polluted site. The APTI observed minimum in Tectona grandis 5.2±0.3247 and maximum in Azadirachta indica 13.5±0.4404. Reduction in APTI at polluted site shows that Alstonia scholaris (6.6%), Tamarindus indica (8.8%) and Azadirachta indica (10.3%) were the most tolerant tree species, while Tectona grandis (47.5%), Acacia nilotica (27.4%) and Cassia fistula (20.7%) were more sensitive tree species. The results showed the order of tolerance (% difference in APTI) as Alstonia scholaris (6.6%)>Tamarindus indica (8.8%)>Azadirachta indica (10.3%)>Moringa pterygosperma (11.9%)>Mangifera indica (13.9%)>Bahunia variegate (14.3%)>Annona squamosa (18.7%)>Cassia fistula (20.7%)>Acacia nilotica (27.4%)>Tectona grandis (47.5%).Conclusion: Tolerant trees species can serve as a sink, and sensitive tree species can act as an indicator for air pollution mitigation. Thus, this study provides useful insights for selecting tolerant species for future planning and Greenbelt development in urban areas.
Highlights
Pollution is an upcoming issue, which alters metabolism in any organisms
The results showed that total chlorophyll content values found less in all selected plant species of polluted sites
Photosynthetic process of plant mainly depends upon the chlorophyll content and development of biomass; it varies from plant to plant due to leaf age, biotic, abiotic conditions and pollution levels [20]
Summary
The rapid growth of industries and vehicular density is the primary cause behind the rise in environmental air pollution in urban areas and is a major problem of cities [1]. Trees are playing a major role in improving air quality by exchanging gases as they act as a sink for the air pollutants. They remove particulate matter by acting as living filters to minimize the air pollution. Plants show visible damages, which would include alteration of the biochemical processes or accumulation of individual metabolites. These changes used for assessing the APTI of plants [2]
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