Spatial Modeling of PAHs in Lichens for Fingerprinting of Multisource Atmospheric Pollution

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• 作者：Sofia Augusto ; Cristina Mguas ; Joo Matos ; Maria Joo Pereira ; Amlcar Soares ; Cristina Branquinho
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology
• 出版年：2009
• 出版时间：October 15, 2009
• 年：2009
• 卷：43
• 期：20
• 页码：7762-7769
• 全文大小：298K
• 年卷期：v.43,no.20(October 15, 2009)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

PAHs are toxic compounds emitted by several anthropogenic sources, which have a great impact on human health. We show, for the first time, how spatial models based on PAHs intercepted by lichens can be used for fingerprinting multisource atmospheric pollution in a regional area. Urban-industrial areas showed the highest atmospheric deposition of PAHs followed by urban > industrial > agricultural > forest. Multivariate analysis of lichen data showed, for the first time, a clear distinction between various sources of PAHs in the same area: urban are dominated by 4-ring PAHs, forest by 3-ring PAHs, and industrial by 5- and 6-ring PAHs or by 2-ring PAHs (petrogenic or pyrogenic, respectively). Heavy metals were also used for supporting the fingerprinting of PAH sources, reinforcing the industrial origin of 5- and 6-ring PAHs and revealing their particular nature. The spatial structure of the models for different PAHs seems to be dependent on the following factors: size and hydrophilic character of different PAHs, type of emission sources (point or nonpoint), and dispersion associated with particulates of different sizes. Based on the long-term integration of PAHs in lichens, these spatial models will significantly improve our knowledge on the impact of PAH chronic-exposure to humans and ecosystems.