European network for the assessment of air quality by the use of bioindicator plants - the first year of EuroBionet

Publication Type

Contribution to conference

Authors

Klumpp, A., Klumpp, G., Ansel, W., Fomin, A.

Year of publication

2002

Published in

Bioindication and Air Quality in European Cities - Research, Application, Communication

Editor

Klumpp, A., Fomin, A., Klumpp, G., Ansel, W.

Pubisher

Verlag Günter Heimbach , Stuttgart

Page (from - to)

37-55

Conference name

Third Hohenheim Workshop on Bioindication at the Power Plant Altbach/Deizisau 2001

Conference location

Altbach

Keywords

Bioindikation, Brassica oleracea, Lolium multiflorum, Luftschadstoff, Nicotiana tabacum, Umweltqualität

Air pollution is still a prominent environmental problem in European cities and a major issue of European environmental policy. EuroBionet, the “European Network for the Assessment of Air Quality by the Use of Bioindicator Plants”, was founded in 1999 and is currently consisting of ten cities from seven countries of the European Union. At more than 90 monitoring sites the bioindicator plants tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum Bel W3), poplar (Populus nigra ‘Brandaris’), spiderwort (Tradescantia sp. clone 4430), Italian rye grass (Lolium multiflorum italicum) and curly kale (Brassica oleracea acephala) are exposed to ambient air according to standardised methods. Visible injuries and effects on growth parameters are assessed and the accumulation of toxic substances in leaves determined. The scientific programme is accompanied by a professional communication concept.

The exposure of the ozone-sensitive tobacco variety Bel-W3 during eight exposure periods of two weeks each in the year 2000 resulted in a gradient from North and Northwest of Europe to the southern and central regions with low levels of foliar injury in Denmark, the United Kingdom and northwestern Germany and medium to high values in France, Italy, Austria and particularly in southern Germany. An ozone-sensitive poplar clone showed reduced shoot growth and formation of leaves at ozone-affected sites. The application of the tradescantia micronucleus test at the monitoring sites revealed an increased mutagenic potential at least at some of the monitoring sites which are exposed to strong traffic emissions. The results of heavy metal and sulphur analyses in rye grass samples generally show low to very low foliar sulphur and low to medium heavy metal concentrations. In some cities strongly elevated heavy metal values were detected at individual sites. First analyses of the PAH concentrations in curly kale leaves showed low to medium levels with higher values mainly at sites with intense automobile traffic. The complete exposure programme will be repeated in 2001 in order to verify the results obtained until now.