Urban Forests, Parks, and Plants as Biomonitoring Pools for Air Pollution

Dear Colleagues,

Air pollution and climate change are closely linked issues that pose significant global threats related to population growth, energy and emerging material demand, and waste generation. Although there have been advancements in clean technologies, the Global Air 2024 Report estimates that air pollution is responsible for more than 8.1 million deaths worldwide. Urban green ecosystems offer considerable advantages for cities and residents, particularly in mitigating climate change and industrialization. Studying forests, parks, and plants as biomonitoring pools is of great interest in understanding the pollution threat induced by a wide range of substances that contaminate urban settlements. Plants are recommended for biomonitoring because of their efficiency, low cost as long-term proxies of environmental information regarding air and soil quality, and their sampling advantages. For instance, tree rings can serve as pollution history archives, which can offer dendrochemical proxy data for assessing and modeling contaminant distribution over decades. Our interest is not limited to evaluating a variety of toxic and potentially toxic pollutants, including nanomaterials and substances considered emerging pollutants (e.g., toxic metals, metalloids, rare earth elements, nanomaterials, microplastics, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), halogenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (HPAHs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), pharmaceuticals, surfactants, pesticides, and others); source origins (industrial, municipal, commercial operators, waste incineration and deposits, and vehicular traffic); their dispersion and transformation; and their interaction. We are also concerned with reconstructing, forecasting, and improving the management of vulnerable species.

Many pollutants often go unchecked and are not regulated, highlighting the importance of conducting thorough and detailed assessment reports. The objective of this Special Issue is to contribute new perspectives to the research and to advance those challenges embedded in original research and review articles related to the following: (i) appropriate methodological issues; (ii) including machine learning in predicting dispersion or time evolution; (iii) evaluating the degree of contamination and health risk; (iv) biomonitoring of genotoxic effects; (v) phytoremediation; (vi) anatomical and chemical plant characteristics; (vii) ecophysiological responses of trees species caused by air pollution; and (viii) urban air pollutant bioassay. Studies with multidisciplinary approaches, articles based on fundamental aspects, and those focusing on experimental investigations will be considered for this Special Issue. Studies regarding mineral deficiency and toxicity, the relationship between nutrients and toxic metal concentrations, and imbalanced mole ratios will also be considered.

We look forward to you submissions.

Dr. Constantin Nechita
Dr. Jesús Julio Camarero
Dr. Andreea Maria Iordache
Guest Editors

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