Published in Scientific Papers. Series B, Horticulture, Vol. LXVI, Issue 1
Written by Elena DELIAN, Elena SĂVULESCU
The presence of trees in the urban area has many advantages for improving the environmental conditions and implicitly for the urban health and wellbeing. The urban environment, in turn, can be a polluting factor that can reduce trees health and physiological performances, due to various specific environmental constraints, including pollutants resulting from street traffic emissions. In this study, the changes of needles anatomical and physiological characteristics of the Pinus nigra species grown in urban area (Dendrological Park of the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine from Bucharest and Road-Side urban trees) were quantified in order (1) to establish the effect of vehicles pollution on needles anatomy, (2) to establish the effect of vehicles pollution on needles gas exchanges, and (3) to evaluate the impact on assimilatory pigments content. We found that growth conditions have had affected all needle’s analyzed attributes. Our results can be added to the existing ones as regard as the P. nigra vulnerability under urban environments and its use as a bioindicator of urban pollution.
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