title: Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in the leaves of twelve plant species along an urbanization gradient in Shanghai, China.
abstract: Plants, particularly their leaves, play an important role in filtering both gas-phase and particle-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). However, many studies have focused on the accumulation and adsorption functions of plant leaves, possibly underestimating the effects that plants have on air quality. Therefore, eight tree species from different locations in Shanghai were selected to assess PAH filtering (via adsorption and capture) using washed and unwashed plant leaves. The differences in the total PAH contents in the washed leaves were constant for the different species across the different sampling sites. The PAH levels decreased in the following order: industrial areas > traffic areas > urban areas > background area. The PAH compositions in the different plant leaves were dominated by fluorene (Fle), phenanthrene (Phe), anthracene (Ant), chrysene (Chr), fluoranthene (Flu), and pyrene (Pyr); notably, Phe accounted for 49.4-76.7% of the total PAHs. By comparing the PAH contents in the washed leaves with the PAH contents in the unwashed leaves, Pittosporum tobira (P. tobira), Ginkgo biloba (G. biloba), and Platanus acerifolia (P. acerifolia) were found to be efficient species for adsorbing PAHs, while Osmanthus fragrans (O. fragrans), Magnolia grandiflora (M. grandiflora), and Prunus cerasifera Ehrh. (P. cerasifera Ehrh.) were efficient species for capturing PAHs. The efficiencies of the plant leaves for the removal of PAHs from air occurred in the order of low molecular weight > medium molecular weight > high molecular weight PAHs.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China.|Shanghai Academy of Landscape Architecture Science and Planning, Shanghai, 200232, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.affiliation: Shanghai Academy of Landscape Architecture Science and Planning, Shanghai, 200232, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Hailan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Fang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, People's Republic of China.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Taolin
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Soil Environment and Pollution Remediation, Institute of Soil Science, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Nanjing, 210008, People's Republic of China. xxwang@issas.ac.cn.|University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People's Republic of China. xxwang@issas.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Xingxiang
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D018515:Plant Leaves; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D011721:Pyrenes; D014507:Urbanization
chemical_list: D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D011721:Pyrenes; C030984:pyrene
keywords: Accumulation and adsorption; Leaves; PAHs; Plant species