title: Comparison of leaf saturation isothermal remanent magnetisation (SIRM) with anatomical, morphological and physiological tree leaf characteristics for assessing urban habitat quality.
abstract: Leaf saturation isothermal remanent magnetisation (SIRM) is known as a good proxy of atmospheric, traffic related particulate matter (PM) concentration. In this study, we compared leaf SIRM with Leaf area (LA), leaf dry weight (LDW), specific leaf area (SLA), stomatal density (SD), relative chlorophyll content (RCC), chlorophyll fluorescence parameters (Fv/Fm and PI) for three urban tree types in the city of Ghent, Belgium. A negative significant relationship of LA, LDW and Fv/Fm, and a positive significant relationship of SLA with leaf SIRM was observed. Among all considered parameters, leaf SIRM had the highest potential for discrimination between contrasting land use classes. It was concluded that urban habitat quality can be monitored with leaf SIRM, independent of the other above mentioned plant parameters. The anatomical, morphological and physiological tree leaf characteristics considered are not good indicators for atmospheric PM, but might be interesting bio-indicators of other air pollutants than PM.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioscience Engineering, Faculty of Sciences, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, B-2020 Antwerpen, Belgium. Electronic address: Fatemeh.Kardel@ua.ac.be.
authors.forename: Fatemeh
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Kardel
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wuyts
authors.forename: Ali Reza
authors.initials: AR
authors.lastname: Khavaninzhadeh
authors.forename: Tatiana
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wuytack
authors.forename: Manoochehr
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Babanezhad
authors.forename: Roeland
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Samson
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000032:analysis* / Q000633:toxicity; D001530:Belgium; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000032:analysis; D002947:Cities; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods*; D052638:Particulate Matter / Q000032:analysis / Q000633:toxicity; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology*; D014197:Trees / Q000187:drug effects / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D052638:Particulate Matter; D002734:Chlorophyll