Air phytoremediation

Abstract

Air pollution presently is a challenge fo-r many areas of the world. Plants are higher organisms that can best deal with this problem despite the fact often in the air is a mixture of pollutants of different origin and toxicity. The world of plants is very diverse and well adopted to changes in the environment, including air. This large biodiversity allowed to select species with a very high tolerance, which are the base for the discipline known as phytoremediation. All plants during their presence in the environment run the process of phytoremediation, but some species tolerate a very high concentration of selected pollutants. Moreover, they are able to uptake/accumulate and next to degrade/detoxify in order to make them less harmful. Tolerant plant species can be found in very extreme conditions but for phytoremediation are useful plant species which besides being cultivatable, produce a large leaf area and biomass. Urban areas often contribute in creating high polluted sites as street canyons, road crossing, bus stops, and surrounding of heavy traffic freeway. In all these places, air pollution can be mitigated by the presence of selected plant species. Additionally, agronomic practices allow to maintain them on a polluted site and to form them in configuration for optimal deposition of pollutants. Air phytoremediation in urban areas, where at present men spend most of the time, is strongly desired and hard to overestimate if environment and human health and well-being are the prospect.