Effect Of Air Pollution On Trees

Effect Of Air Pollution On Trees

Aabhas Garg
                                                                                                                                    207
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                                                                                                                          Mbatech chemical
Assessment of Air Pollution on commonly grown tree species in Industrial Zone of Durgapur, West Bengal.
Dispersion of gaseous pollutants from various sources in Industrial regions is a major environmental problem. Durgapur is one of the well known industrial cities in eastern zone of India. A number of heavy industries i.e thermal power, iron and steel, chemical and other small industries are the primary source of gaseous pollutants like suspended particulate matter (SPM), oxides of sulphur, oxides of nitrogen etc.
Vegetation growing near industrial facilities absorbs the airborne pollutants and studies have shown the impact on chlorophyll content , soluble sugar , protein , ascorbic acid etc.
The Objective of this study was to assess the relationship between gaseous pollutants and biochemical response of common tree species , and to screen out the more resistant species using Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) for future plantation in Industrial areas.
Study Area
This study was done in and around the industrial zone of   Durgapur city. Air and plant samples were collected from 2 different zones:-
ZONE 1- Areas within a 1-5 km radius from most major industries.
ZONE 2- Areas 10-15 km away from the core industrial belt.
Sampling
Sampling was done from 5 different sites and average was taken. To avoid any obstacles and to collect maximum amount of air pollutants, apparatus was kept in an open space 2m above the ground level. One twig was collected from each tree in the region.
Analytical Methods
Suspended particulate matter was estimated by using glass fibre filter and gaseous pollutants using methods of West and...