title: Biomonitoring airborne parent and alkylated three-ring PAHs in the Greater Cologne Conurbation I: temporal accumulation patterns.
abstract: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) comprise an important group of air pollutants, with three-ring components (PAH-3) often dominating. Spatiotemporal variation in atmospheric PAH-3 can be analyzed by biomonitoring but high vapour pressure and low octanol-air-partitioning of PAH-3 cause dynamic accumulation on plant surfaces. This study for the first time shows that PAH-3 exhibit systematic accumulation trends on pine needles of 3-48 months of exposure time at six sites in Germany. Correlation of needle exposure time with PAH-3 concentration was r(2)=0.83 for phenanthrene and methylphenanthrenes, r(2)=0.77 for cyclopenta[def]phenanthrene, r(2)=0.60 for dibenzothiophene, r(2)=0.57 for dimethylphenanthrenes and r(2)=0.32 for retene. Variations in PAH-3 for summer and winter collected needles emphasize vegetation-air-partitioning influence on cumulative PAH-3 loads. PAH-3 ratios calculated for needle cohorts indicate persistence of original PAH patterns thus demonstrating the source-diagnostic potential of pine needle biomonitoring, which is utilized in part II of this study where spatial distribution of PAH-3 is investigated and related to emission sources.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geology and Mineralogy, University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lehndorff
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Schwark
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D005858:Germany; D007220:Industrial Waste / Q000032:analysis*; D028223:Pinus; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry*; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis*; D012621:Seasons; D013696:Temperature
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D007220:Industrial Waste; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons