Pandey, Bhanu
(2019)
Responses of Tropical and Subtropical Plants to Air Pollution.
In:
In Tropical Ecosystems: Structure, Functions and Challenges in the Face of Global Change.
springer, Singapore, pp. 129-162.
Abstract
The tropical and subtropical regions of the world are facing strong negative
effects of globalization, weakening the critical balance between ecosystem stability
and socioeconomic development. Apart from increasing pressures of global
climate change, deforestation, and shifts in land use pattern, air pollution is
emerging as one of the major factors influencing ecosystem structure and function.
Issues related to health, agricultural production, and economic losses due to
air pollution in the tropical and subtropical regions are well known; however,
information on air pollution-related effects on the tropical vegetation is limited.
Therefore, based on the current literature, the status of air pollution and its effects
on vegetation in the tropical and subtropical regions of the globe are explored in
this chapter to understand the current scenario and to identify the knowledge
gaps. Spatial and temporal variations were detected among different regions for
particulate matter, its constituents, and gaseous pollutants including identification
of the factors and sources influencing the air quality. Air pollution impacts
were assessed based on changes in ecosystem structure and functions such as the
patterns of biodiversity change, alteration in litterfall and decomposition, the
response of leaf functional traits, and bioaccumulation in the community or individual
plant species. Air pollution significantly influenced major ecological processes
such as litterfall, decomposition, and plant diversity indirectly through
changes in soil quality as well as through a direct effect on growth and physiol
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