title: SEMEDS: an important tool for air pollution bio-monitoring.
abstract: Plant canopies act as absorbers of air-borne dust particles. Characterization of the dusts present over the leaf surfaces can indicate the nature of contaminant present in the surrounding area and possible sources as well. Dust particulates get adsorbed on both the surfaces of leaves, however more dust particulates get deposited on the upper surface. These dusts contain many inorganic elements, which were analyzed in the present study. For the present investigation, SEMEDS technique used to characterize the dusts adsorbed over the leaf surfaces. Using SEMEDS the samples were analyzed by two types of methods i.e. point analysis and elemental mapping. Both the methods showed the presence of elements like Si, Al, Fe, Mg, and Ca in the dusts adsorbed over the leaf surfaces. Thus, SEMEDS can be used for in situ air pollution monitoring using tree leaves from the area concerned.
authors.affiliation: UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research, III/LB-8, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700098, WB, India. tracebio@gmail.com
authors.forename: S S
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Ram
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Majumdar
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Chaudhuri
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chanda
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Santra
authors.forename: P K
authors.initials: PK
authors.lastname: Maiti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sudarshan
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chakraborty
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D000397:Air Pollution; D004391:Dust / Q000032:analysis*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D018515:Plant Leaves
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D004391:Dust; D052638:Particulate Matter