Ricerc@Sapienza

Over the last decades, various scientific studies had underlined the potential of biomonitoring to assess environmental quality. The utilization of organisms as bioindicators have been widely described. Biomonitoring often results to be a low-cost and efficient method for the evaluation of environmental quality in comparison to the definition of a traditional monitoring network. In this study we describe the application of two biomonitoring approaches to assess the air quality of Terni (Central Italy).

Particulate matter (PM) is a complex mixture of solid and liquid airborne particles, characterized by different size, shape, chemical composition, solubility and origin [1]. The high costs associated to the definition of a traditional monitoring network determine an increasing demand for new and low-cost techniques for air pollution monitoring [2]. In this context, leaves are often described as efficient passive biomonitors for airborne pollutants such as particulate matter [3].