Plants as biomonitors of atmospheric pollution: Their potential for use in pollution regulation

Abstract

The purpose of this review was to consider the use of plants as biomonitors of atmospheric pollutants and to discuss how they might be used as part of a monitoring program in Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control (IPPC). This review, which does not cover the use of plants as biomonitors in aquatic environments, focuses on pollutants from point sources rather than gaseous pollutants from diffuse sources such as ozone, sulfur dioxide, and the oxides of nitrogen that have been reviewed extensively elsewhere and may not be regulated under IPPC. Suitable species for use in biomonitoring schemes were discussed, as were the available chemical and statistical analyses. The use of plants in biomonitoring schemes was reviewed for point-source monitoring, source identification, and the detection of long-term changes in pollutant levels and effects. Understudied areas and unresolved problems with particular methodologies were highlighted and the need for further research to improve methodologies discussed. Methods of implementing schemes using plants as biomonitors were discussed in detail with a number of issues regarding the choice of taxa, the need for reconnaissance, and sampling strategies and methods, as well as the need for rigorous statistical analysis of results for the detection of change. © Springer-Verlag 1998.