Dear Francesca, There are some studies about nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and nitrous acid (HONO) uptake by plants, here are the links: http://www.atmos-chem-phys.net/13/773/2013/acp-13-773-2013.pdf http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1352231005010046
Ozone (O3) and peroxyacetyl nitrate (PAN) deposition on the leaf surface: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/2016JD025519/full Other factors such as light, sound, and VOCs pollution might also be considered. Best, Dianming From: Ecological Society of America: grants, jobs, news [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Monday, December 12, 2016 3:01 PM To: [email protected] Subject: [ECOLOG-L] Potential contaminants of fruits grown in an urban environment Dear listers, We are a NGO working on urban agriculture. We are trying to gather scientific information on the potential urban pollutants that could affect fruits grown in an urban environment (specifically on lines of trees along roadsides with no barriers). We would like to get a list of potential polluting substances, their legal limit concentrations defined by food safety standards and the different ways that these pollutants could reach the fruits of different plant varieties. We are particularly interested, but not only, into persimmons (Diospyros kaki) of which our city is plentiful. We intend to analyse samples but having a limited budget we need to select a short list of pollutants to analyse. Among the candidates there are PCBs, PCDD/F, PAHs, Benzene and heavy metals (Cadmium, Lead, Zinc, Copper, Mercury, Arsenic, others?). There is a relatively rich literature on heavy metals that seems to show that fruits are not so much affected by heavy metals (compared to leaf vegetables): https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?linkname=pubmed_pubmed&from_uid=24507151 While for other compounds such as PCBs, PCDD/F and PAHs we only found so far very limited literature like these two papers: PCB and PCDD/DF: https://apps.webofknowledge.com/full_record.do?product=WOS&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=9&SID=N2qKOQ9O97r1Xzed35c&page=1&doc=3 PAH: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S095671350200052X The area of concern is Parma, North Italy (Po river plain), a town affected by fine particulate and nitrogen dioxide pollution coming from traffic, industrial agriculture, farming and industries. Some concerned trees are also nearby the railway. Any suggestion on literature and on which contaminants we should look for would be greatly appreciated. Thank you. Kind regards Francesca
