Abstract
Recently, air pollution alerts were issued in the Metropolitan Area of Aburrá Valley (AVMA) due to the highest recorded levels of particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) ever measured. We propose a novel methodology based on magnetic parameters and an epiphytic biomonitor of air pollution in order to improve the air pollution monitoring network at low cost. This methodology relies on environmental magnetism along with chemical methods on 185 Tillandsia recurvata specimens collected along the valley (290 km2). The highest magnetic particle concentrations were found at the bottom of the valley, where most human activities are concentrated. Mass-specific magnetic susceptibility (χ) reaches mean (and s.d.) values of 93.5 (81.0) and 100.8 (64.9) × 10−8 m3 kg−1 in areas with high vehicular traffic and industrial activity, while lower χ values of 27.3 (21.0) × 10−8 m3 kg−1 were found at residential areas. Most magnetite particles are breathable in size (0.2–5 μm), and can host potentially toxic elements. The calculated pollution load index (PLI, based on potentially toxic elements) shows significant correlations with the concentration-dependent magnetic parameters (R = 0.88–0.93; p < 0.01), allowing us to validate the magnetic biomonitoring methodology in high-precipitation tropical cities and identify the most polluted areas in the AVMA.
Highlights
Magnetic biomonitoring studies have gained importance in the field of environmental magnetism in the last two decades, mainly because this technique has been used as a tool to study the changes in the pollution load in specific environments, such as urban areas, through magnetic measurements in a wide range of natural materials [1,2]
They can be described as magnetic concentration (χ, Anhysteretic remanent magnetization (ARM) and SIRM), magnetic mineralogy (Hcr, S-ratio) and magnetic grain size (SIRM/χ, χARM /χ and ARM/SIRM) dependent parameters
Biomonitoring of air quality in a tropical valley was carried out using Tillandsia recurvata as a novel bioindicator of air quality
Summary
Magnetic biomonitoring studies have gained importance in the field of environmental magnetism in the last two decades, mainly because this technique has been used as a tool to study the changes in the pollution load in specific environments, such as urban areas, through magnetic measurements in a wide range of natural materials [1,2]. Concerning atmospheric pollution, some authors have demonstrated the importance of magnetic biomonitoring for determining particulate matter pollution levels in several cities in Central and South America [3,4,5]. Most of the magnetic minerals in airborne particulate matter (PM) and total suspended particles (TSP) come from human activities, termed anthropogenic. PM2.5 , PM10 , and TSP can be deposited and accumulated in biological surfaces such as lichens, mosses, and tree leaves. The implementation of lichens, mosses, and tree leaves as biomonitors is useful compared with traditional monitoring mechanisms due to the low cost and quick analysis [5,11,12,13,14,15,16,17]
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