The proposal aims at improving the knowledge about the association between health and environmental effects of particulate matter (PM) and of its chemical composition and sources. The scientific approach is based on the interdisciplinarity of the research group and will focus on the integration of different observation systems and monitoring methods.
PM samples originated from different sources will be collected and analysed by consolidated and innovative analytical methods, thereby reaching a very detailed knowledge of their organic and inorganic chemical composition. Plant and animal model organisms will be exposed in vivo under controlled conditions to the same dusts. Oxidative stress and other biological responses will be then evaluated and correlated to dusts chemical composition: the acquisition of molecular, cellular and metabolic data will provide information on both single cell and whole-animal responses, while the combination of ecophysiological and metagenomic approach (applied to community structure of the phyllosphere microbiome), will be used to define the plants response.
The same integrated approach will be applied to monitor the Terni (central Italy) basin, which is characterized by the presence of several anthropic PM sources and by a severe stagnation of the air masses. The spatial distribution of PM and of its chemical components, obtained by using innovative low-flow, self-powered samplers, will be compared with the results achieved by plants and humans on-site bio-monitoring, in order to verify the findings obtained by the exposure under controlled conditions and to propose an integrated method transferable to other monitoring campaigns.
