| Popis: |
There is multiple scientific evidence that suggests that air pollution causes adverse effects on human health, both in indoor and outdoor environments. Anthropogenic emissions have already made irreversible impacts on Earth’s life-supporting capacity by increasing the concentration of some short- and long-lived trace gases and aerosols. Until the 2000s, gradual increases in atmospheric trace gases were mostly associated with their potential to interfere with Earth’s climate system. However, as scientific evidence on the inextricable linkage of air pollutants with human health are evident, the focus is gradually shifting toward mitigating or partially reducing such negative health impacts. The primary challenge that now lies ahead for the scientific community is to achieve adequate reduction in air pollutant emissions in order to avoid negative effects on human health, both in terms of premature mortality and morbidity. Present emission control technologies primarily focus on reducing pollutants at source level, while there is an urgent need for developing and maintaining environmentally friendly, low cost, sustainable practices to mitigate air pollutants. Considering all these aspects, phytoremediation appears to be a promising prospect, being a low-cost, plant-based environmentally friendly, low maintenance, soil stabilizing, cost-effective, and aesthetically pleasing approach. In this approach, the intensive gas exchange mechanism of the plant–soil–microbe system with ambient air is exploited for the removal of air pollutants. The added advantages of having a vast biologically active surface area helps with removing air pollutants efficiently, either through gaseous exchange or by mechanical screening. In fact, the entire plant–soil–microbe system holds a potential for exploitation through bioengineering. In the present submission, the potential of a few plant species for remediating air pollutants are reviewed, both in terms of indoor and outdoor environments, with specific emphasis on plant–soil–microbial system engineering. User-specific recommendations are also included for particular plant species that are useful for the phytoremediation of indoor and outdoor pollutants. |
