Biomonitoramento vegetal da qualidade do ar em Ribeirão Preto - SP / Biomonitoring of air quality with plants in Ribeirão Preto - SP.

Ana Paula Milla dos Santos

The air quality monitoring in Ribeirão Preto is carried out by Cetesb with conventional methods and, until now, no experimental study on air pollution biomonitoring was conducted in the region. The city has a growing number of motor vehicles and is located in one of the most important regions of the country for the sugarcane sector. The frequent burning of biomass inserts the region in the list of VIGIAR-Surveillance Program on Environmental Health of the Ministry of Health, and is of interest, both the monitoring of air pollution, such as knowledge of the health indicators of the population exposed, being of interest, both the monitoring of air pollution, and the indicators of exposed population\ s health. In this context, this study aimed to assess the air quality in Ribeirão Preto through plant biomonitoring, relating to the framework of respiratory morbidity of the population. The experiments were conducted in three points of the city during two periods: from March to June and from July to October 2011. In each point 24 seedlings of each species, Tibouchina pulchra and Tradescantia pallida, were exposed in 50% shade and full sun. Physiological, anatomical, growth parameters and chemical leaf composition were analyzed in these plants. The results were compared between regions, under treatments of sun and shade, relating them with environmental parameters (PM10, NO2, O3, temperature, air relative humidity, rainfall and solar radiation). Still, the respiratory morbidity of the population was analyzed, relating Datasus data on respiratory hospitalizations with environmental indicators obtained in Cetesb and CIIAgro between 2009 and 2011. The results indicated that the levels of air pollutants in the city undertook the photosynthetic capacity of the plants, significantly affecting their growth. In general, the plants exposed in the central region showed greater photoinhibition, lower total chlorophyll content, lower specific activity of SOD, lower leaf thickness, lower AFE, lower biomass production and higher accumulation of leaf chemical elements related to air pollution. It was also possible to notice greater genotoxic effect during the gametes formation in T. pallida, in plants exposed in this region, characterized by intense traffic flow and consequently higher concentration of air pollutants. Even with pollution levels below the limits allowed by national standards, it was observed a moderate association between the rate of hospitalization for respiratory diseases and the monthly concentration of PM10 and NO2, especially among children under five years old, in the driest and coldest period of the year. The results of this research may serve as subsidies for the implementation of new air quality standards, currently under discussion in the São Paulo state, revealing important indicators of stress in plants due to exposure to air pollutants, showing to be feasible the use of biomonitoring assessment of air quality as a complementary tool, and an important element for environmental education programs. This research also shows the importance of adopting scientific evidence about the impact of air pollution on health, by the environmental management system, stimulating the development of innovative strategies to achieve better indicators of air quality. Still, this research provides new tools for identifying areas of atmospheric environmental attention, of interest to health, and population groups exposed to air pollution, which is one of the great challenges of the Priority Actions Programme of Surveillance health of VIGIAR, not only for the state of São Paulo but also in similar situations.

Biomonitoramento vegetal da qualidade do ar em Ribeirão Preto - SP / Biomonitoring of air quality with plants in Ribeirão Preto - SP.

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