Influencia del O3 en la capacidad de captación de CO2 en tres especies vegetales

The levels of global air pollution at the urban level are increasing. Mitigation, control and monitoring projects are important to decrease the impact caused by these pollutants on human health and the environment. The creation of green spaces is a useful tool to mitigate and reduce air pollution. However, urban expansion within the country does not generate enough space for the conventional creation of green spaces. Instead of that, we propose to take advantage of urban spaces to create vertical gardens that meet the environmental benefits of green areas. Tropospheric ozone (O3) is a secondary pollutant with serious health risks. Therefore, this study analyzes how the presence of ozone affects the capacity and efficiency to capture CO2 of three plant species used in vertical gardens: Red escancel (Aerva Sanguinolenta), Vinca (Vinca major variegata) and Red begonia (Begonia dichotoma Jacquin) which were selected according to the amount of ascorbic acid present in its leaves. Ascorbic acid is a reducing agent that allows the plant to be more tolerant to contaminants. Three treatments were carried out, Treatment 1 (environmental ozone), Treatment 2 (40 μg/m3) and Treatment 3 (80 μg/m3) in three experimental cells of 0.125 m3 for 24 days. It was found that elevated ozone concentrations caused loss of height and weight that are indicators of biomass, leaf wilt and burn spots, at the micro level, loss of cell wall and stomatal damage. This shows that ozone has an inverse proportional effect over the micro and macro state of the plants, which is directly proportional to its capacity to capture CO2. The results show that ascorbic acid serves as a reducing agent to tolerate ozone concentrations. This means that every eight hours in the presence of average levels of ozone (40 μg/m3), a square meter of vertical garden can absorb 144,66 ppm of CO2, in the presence of high levels of ozone (80 μg/m3) can absorb 135,33 ppm of CO2 and in the presence of low levels can capture 193,33 ppm of CO2. Demonstrating that the presence of ozone does influence the capacity of absorbing CO2 in the three plant species used.

• Autore principale: Arends Rivadeneira, Roberto Arturo (author)
• Natura: bachelorThesis
• Lingua: spa
• Pubblicazione: 2018
• Soggetti: CONTAMINACIÓN DEL AIRE; OZONO TROPOSFÉRICO; ABSORCIÓN; JARDINES VERTICALES
• Accesso online: http://dspace.udla.edu.ec/handle/33000/9294