Laboratory of Air Pollution and Global Climate Change, Department of Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, 221005, India.
Environ Sci Pollut Res Int. 2018 Dec;25(36):36194-36206. doi: 10.1007/s11356-018-3437-5. Epub 2018 Oct 26.
A comprehensive study was conducted to evaluate the effects of ambient air pollution, land use, and soil properties on ground cover vegetation in the urban area of Varanasi city, situated in the Indo Gangetic Plain of India. Twelve leaf functional traits were assessed on eight most dominant herbaceous species belonging to four angiospermic families in three different land uses with varying air pollution loads and soil properties. Particulate matter (PM and TSP), gaseous pollutants (SO, NO, and O), land uses (built-up area, shrub, and grass cover), and soil properties showed significant variability among the land uses. Air pollution was identified as the major stress factor which influenced leaf functional traits of ground cover vegetation followed by soil properties and land uses. Among the plants, Croton sparsiflorus was found to be the most responsive plants to all the factors. Plants responded differently under varying environmental factors as Euphorbia hirta was maximally influenced by air pollution, whereas the effect of land use was maximum in C. sparsiflorus. Influence of soil properties was highest in Digitaria ciliaris and Scoparia dulcis. All the environmental factors in combination maximally influenced non-enzymatic antioxidants (ascorbic acid and polyphenolics) followed by photosynthetic pigments among the different leaf functional traits. Among the environmental factors, NO and PM were identified as the most influencing factors regulating leaf functional traits followed by K level in soil and shrub cover. It can be concluded that responses of different leaf functional traits of ground cover vegetation varied with different environmental factors and responses were mostly species specific.
对印度印度恒河平原瓦拉纳西市城区的空气污染物、土地利用和土壤特性对地面植被的影响进行了全面研究。在三种不同土地利用方式下，评估了八个最主要的草本植物物种的 12 个叶片功能性状，这些物种属于四个被子植物科。在不同的空气污染负荷和土壤特性的土地利用方式下，颗粒物（PM 和 TSP）、气态污染物（SO、NO 和 O）、土地利用（建筑区、灌木和草地）和土壤特性显示出明显的差异。空气污染被确定为影响地面植被叶片功能性状的主要胁迫因素，其次是土壤特性和土地利用。在这些植物中，Croton sparsiflorus 被认为是对所有因素最敏感的植物。植物在不同的环境因素下反应不同，Euphorbia hirta 受空气污染的影响最大，而 C. sparsiflorus 受土地利用的影响最大。土壤特性对 Digitaria ciliaris 和 Scoparia dulcis 的影响最大。在不同的叶片功能性状中，所有环境因素的综合影响最大的是非酶抗氧化剂（抗坏血酸和多酚），其次是光合作用色素。在环境因素中，NO 和 PM 被确定为调节叶片功能性状的最主要因素，其次是土壤中的 K 水平和灌木覆盖。可以得出结论，不同地面植被叶片功能性状的响应因不同的环境因素而不同，且响应主要是特定物种的。
