Verma Vijeta, Chandra Neelam
Department of Botany, University of Lucknow, Lucknow 226007, India.
Int Sch Res Notices. 2014 Oct 30;2014:263092. doi: 10.1155/2014/263092. eCollection 2014.
Auto pollution is the by-product of our mechanized mobility, which adversely affects both plant and human life. However, plants growing in the urban locations provide a great respite to us from the brunt of auto pollution by absorbing the pollutants at their foliar surface. Foliar surface configuration and biochemical changes in plant species, namely, Sida cordifolia L. and Catharanthus roseus L. grown at roadside (polluted site 1, Talkatora; polluted site 2, Charbagh) in Lucknow city and in the garden of the university campus, which has been taken as reference site, were investigated. It was observed that air pollution caused by auto exhaust showed marked alterations in photosynthetic pigments (chlorophyll, carotenoid, and phaeophytin), and relative water content was reduced while antioxidative enzymes like catalase and peroxidase were found to be enhanced. The changes in the foliar configuration reveal marked alteration in epidermal traits, with decreased number of stomata, stomatal indices, and epidermal cells per unit area, while length and breadth of stomata and epidermal cells were found to be increased in leaves samples wich can be used as biomarkers of auto pollution.
汽车污染是我们机械化出行的副产品，它对植物和人类生活都会产生不利影响。然而，生长在城市地区的植物通过在叶表面吸收污染物，为我们缓解了汽车污染的冲击。研究了生长在勒克瑙市路边（污染地点1，Talkatora；污染地点2，Charbagh）以及大学校园花园（作为参考地点）的两种植物，即黄花稔和长春花的叶表面形态和生化变化。观察到汽车尾气造成的空气污染使光合色素（叶绿素、类胡萝卜素和脱镁叶绿素）发生显著变化，相对含水量降低，而过氧化氢酶和过氧化物酶等抗氧化酶则增强。叶形态的变化显示出表皮特征的显著改变，单位面积的气孔数量、气孔指数和表皮细胞数量减少，而气孔和表皮细胞的长度和宽度在叶片样本中增加，这些可作为汽车污染的生物标志物。
