Abstract
Mussoorie in the western Himalayas of India, a popular tourist destination, was selected for air pollution monitoring. The study was carried out applying thalloid liverwort species Marchantia polymorpha L. as a tool. Moss bags containing M. polymorpha was transplanted at residential, highly and less polluted areas to obtain comprehensive and comparative data. Lead content, along with some essential micronutrients viz. zinc, manganese, and copper, as well as some physiological parameters total chlorophyll, sugar, protein, catalase and peroxidase activity were analyzed. The highest accumulation of lead (Pb) in M. polymorpha plants was highest in summer season , i.e., 2276 μg/g dry weight. The correlation of metals and physiological parameters has been made to get clear view of the effects of lead on physiology and essential micronutrients.
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Acknowledgements
I am thankful to Director, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, U.P., India for providing the facilities. I am grateful to Prof. P. K. Tandon, Lucknow University, Lucknow and Dr. Virendra Nath, Deputy Director, and Dr. A. K . Asthana, Scientist, National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, India for providing necessary guidance. Thanks are also due to Dr. J. L. Chowdhary and Dr. V. N. Singh, Department of Mineralogy, Lucknow for the metal analysis work.
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Sharma, S. Marchantia polymorpha L.: A Bioaccumulator. Aerobiologia 23, 181–187 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-007-9062-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10453-007-9062-2