RT Journal Article
T1 Relationship between foliar polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) concentrations and plant traits: Intracanopy variability for a broadleaf species in an urban environment
A1 Giráldez Suárez, Pablo
A1 Varela Río, Zulema
A1 Di Guardo, Antonio
A1 Terzaghi, Elisa
A1 Celeiro Montero, María
A1 García Jares, Carmen María
A1 Fernández Escribano, José Ángel
A1 Aboal Viñas, Jesús
K1 Leaves
K1 C isotopes
K1 Atmospheric pollution
K1 Urban tree
K1 Traffic
AB The emission of potentially harmful compounds, including polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), and the resulting air pollution is a serious problem in modern cities. It is therefore important to develop mitigation strategies, such as “smart” planting of trees that act as sinks for PAHs. However, the intra-individual (within-tree) variability in leaf PAH concentrations remains unknown. In this paper, we studied 15 ornamental apple trees (Malus × moerlandsii ‘Profusion’) growing on a main street in a medium-sized city in Galicia (NW Spain). We determined the PAH concentrations at 12 canopy positions in each tree (2 orientations and 2 distances from the trunk at 3 heights), measured various ecological traits (specific leaf area [SLA], δ13C, stomatal density, fatty acid contents and leaf hairiness) and analyzed the variability in traits within the canopy in relation to PAH concentrations. We observed high intra-individual variability in the PAH concentrations and the leaf traits. Statistical analyses revealed that leaf height was the main source of variability both in the PAH concentrations and in the traits, mainly due to the leaf morphology, particularly to the SLA. Therefore, the ideal vegetation to remove PAHs would be high leaf biomass trees, not too tall and with a high proportion of shade leaves.
PB Elsevier
SN 0048-9697
YR 2024
FD 2024
LK http://hdl.handle.net/10347/34930
UL http://hdl.handle.net/10347/34930
LA eng
NO Science of The Total Environment Volume 940 , 25 August 2024, 173698
NO P. Giráldez is grateful to the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia, Innovación y Universidades for a grant awarded within the Programa de Formacion de Profesorado Universitario (FPU 2018 [grant number FPU18/04134]) and additional funding for the stay (Ayuda para estancias breves FPU [grant number EST22/00835]). The University of Insubria is acknowledged for hosting P. Giráldez during part of this study. Z. Varela contributed to this study with a postdoctoral research grant awarded by the Xunta de Galicia (Spain; Modalidade B-2019) but currently is supported by the María Zambrano Programme of the Spanish Ministry of Universities. María Celeiro and Carmen García-Jares contribution to this research was supported by projects ED431B 2020/06 and ED431B2023/04 (Galician Competitive Research Groups, Xunta de Galicia, Spain).
DS Minerva
RD 24 abr 2026