Air pollution arising from different sources represents a serious environmental threat to all living organisms, including vegetation. Monitoring air contamination levels is necessary to detect pollution levels, regulate atmospheric pollution, and ultimately improve ambient air quality. The current study evaluated the effects of air pollutants with a focus on dust and some biochemical and physiological properties of Quercus cerris L., which is growing in Lebanon’s Ezer forest, threatened by the presence of a public road on its northern side. The studied parameters include leaf extract pH, stomatal conductance, relative water content, hydrogen peroxide, proline, carotenoids, and air pollution tolerance index. These parameters can provide reliable information about the tolerance status of plants towards pollutants. Three sites with different exposure to vehicular activities were used to conduct this study, including a control site (unpolluted) and two polluted sites (S1 and S2). The results showed a significant reduction in stomatal conductance and relative water content at polluted sites compared with the control site. Hydrogen peroxide, proline, and carotenoids showed the highest levels at the S2 site, which is indicative of the fact that Quercus cerris undergoes established physiological and biochemical changes in response to environmental stress. Based on the air pollution tolerance index (4.97-9.85) Quercus cerris is categorized as a sensitive species that can be used as a biological monitor of environmental pollution. Thus, the development and implementation of efficient environmental action plans based on biomonitoring should be considered for protecting the forests.
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Citation
Najib R, Houri T, Khairallah Y, Khalil M (2022). Effect of dust accumulation on Quercus cerris L. leaves in the Ezer forest, Lebanon. iForest 15: 322-330. - doi: 10.3832/ifor3959-015
Academic Editor
Rossella Guerrieri
Paper history
Received: Sep 01, 2021
Accepted: Jun 13, 2022
First online: Aug 23, 2022
Publication Date: Aug 31, 2022
Publication Time: 2.37 months
© SISEF - The Italian Society of Silviculture and Forest Ecology 2022
Open Access
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.
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