Faculty of Sciences and Technology, University of the Azores, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Portugal; Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, and Azorean Biodiversity Group (cE3c-GBA), University of the Azores, 9501-801 Ponta Delgada, Portugal.
Centre for Ecology, Evolution and Environmental Changes, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa (cE3c-FC-ULisboa), Edifício C2, 5º piso, Campo Grande, 1749-016 Lisboa, Portugal.
Sci Total Environ. 2019 Dec 20;697:133891. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.133891. Epub 2019 Aug 12.
Human populations living in volcanically active areas are chronically exposed to volcanogenic air pollution, potentially contributing to long-term adverse health effects. However, mapping chronic exposure is difficult due to low spatial resolution of monitoring data on air pollutants and the need for time integration. To overcome these problems, lichens were tested as ecological indicators of hydrothermal volcanic air pollution, considering their bioaccumulation capacity over time, by transplanting them from a reference area to several sites (n = 39) in a volcanic area. The test was developed at Furnas volcano (Azores, Portugal). A stratified sampling design was followed using previous measurements of soil CO flux at ground level and the distance to the main fumarolic fields. After 6 months of exposure, lichen transplants were analyzed for S isotopic ratio (δS), which strongly related with the distance to fumarolic fields on a logarithmic regression, serving as an appropriate hydrothermal exposure biomarker. Considering kriging interpolated δS values as tracer of airborne hydrothermal emissions and habitational areas as proxy of ongoing human presence, a map was built relating both information per area unit to spatially model risk areas. It was estimated that 26% of habitational areas in the study area stand at high or very high risk of outdoors chronic exposure to airborne hydrothermal emissions. This methodologic approach to produce chronic exposure risk maps is applicable to other volcanically active and inhabited areas of the world, with time-integration and high spatial resolution, contributing in this way for spatially focusing future human health assessments.
生活在火山活跃地区的人类群体长期暴露于火山成因的空气污染中，这可能导致长期的不良健康影响。然而，由于空气污染物监测数据的空间分辨率低以及需要时间积分，因此难以绘制慢性暴露图。为了克服这些问题，测试了地衣作为热液火山空气污染的生态指标，考虑到它们随着时间的推移的生物累积能力，将它们从参考区移植到火山地区的几个地点（n=39）。该测试在 Furnas 火山（葡萄牙亚速尔群岛）进行。使用先前在地面水平测量的土壤 CO 通量和到主要喷气孔场的距离进行分层采样设计。暴露 6 个月后，分析了地衣移植物的 S 同位素比值（δS），该比值与距喷气孔场的对数回归呈强相关，可作为适当的热液暴露生物标志物。考虑到克里金插值的δS 值作为空气水热排放的示踪剂以及居住区域作为人类存在的代理，绘制了一张地图，将这两种信息按区域单位相关联，以空间模型来确定风险区域。据估计，研究区域 26%的居住区域处于室外空气水热排放慢性暴露的高或极高风险中。这种制作慢性暴露风险图的方法适用于世界上其他火山活跃和有人居住的地区，具有时间积分和高空间分辨率，从而有助于为未来的人类健康评估提供空间重点。
