You are here:
USING TERRESTRIAL PLANTS IN BIOMONITORING
Citation:
Pfleeger, T., H. Ratsch, AND R. Shimabuku. USING TERRESTRIAL PLANTS IN BIOMONITORING. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/A-93/029 (NTIS PB93158780), 1992.
Description:
Terrestrial plants have been used as monitors of environmental pollutants since at least the beginning of this century & have recently received attention in response to the need for ecological assessments at hazardous waste sites & monitoring pesticide damage to nontarget plants. hey are potential candidates for biomonitoring because they are continuously exposed to the air & have lipophilic cuticles. The dissemination of heavy metal & sulfur dioxide into the environment from smelters has been effectively monitored through the use of several different sensitive plant species including lichens & mosses. isible foliar injury on Bell W-3 Tobacco was developed as an indicator of ozone pollution. The Tradescantia stamen hair system has been successfully used for a number of years as a monitor for chemical mutagenesis for air & water systems. owever, plants have rarely been used as an indicator for chronic exposure to organic chemical pollutants. A test using Arabidopsis was developed for chronic root exposure to both metal & organic toxicants. hronic shoot exposure test using a short life cycle Brassica was developed for monitoring aerial deposition of spray, fog, & gases. reliminary work has begun on using terrestrial plants as biomonitors in detecting nontarget foliar injury from sulfonylurea herbicides.