Standardized biomonitoring protocols to assess the air quality: 30 years of experience from Italy
Department of Agriculture, Food and Environment, University of Pisa, Via del Borghetto 80, 56124 Pisa, Italy;
Biological monitoring (BM) uses organisms to determine the presence, amounts, spatial/temporal changes, and effects of abiotic and biotic agents in the environment. The huge difference between BM and traditional physico-chemical measures of air quality is that the latter measures take into account emissions/immissions, but only indirectly measure the “health” of the atmosphere because they do not assess/look directly at biological responses. Specific plants, such as Nicotiana tabacum cv. Bel-W3 and Gladiolus gandavensis are considered to be reliable bioindicators of ambient ozone and fluoride, respectively. These species are “perfect” bioindicators of ozone and fluoride in the air, as they are highly sensitive. They develop easily recognizable and quantifiable peculiar foliar symptoms, which are the first indication that a region/area has developed an ozone/fluoride problem. At the same time, Lolium multiflorum and Brassica oleracea var. acephala cv. Hammer/Grüsa) are considered “perfect” bioaccumulators of heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The entire methodology, from plant cultivation to exposure, injury assessment, data elaboration, and presentation of results, is now standardized. Data collected at 70 sites in Italy by using the Bel-W3/Bel B tobacco biotype system, G. gandavensis (cv. Oscar), L. multiflorum (cv. Lema) and kale plants during 1993-2023 were analysed in order to assess their efficacy for BM under changing environmental conditions, and variations of visible damage linked to several anthropogenic activities characterizing the studied areas.
Keywords: Air pollution, bioindication, bioaccumulation, vascular plants
