Dublin Core
Title
Effect of steel plant pollution on photosynthetic apparatus of some spontaneous plants by chlorophyll fluorescence imaging
Abstract
Environmental pollution by the steel plant in Elbasan, the largest metallurgical complex in Albania causes serious problems. Although the blast furnaces and basic oxygen converters closed in 1991, small scale steel production from scrap metal continued. This steel plant releasing chemicals and particulates into the atmosphere is considered a source of air pollution. Industrial siderurgic air pollution as other stressors affects growth and physiological functions of plants. Pollution has effects on the photosynthetic performance of leaves and can modify their optical and fluorescence properties either directly or indirectly. The chlorophyll (Chl) fluorescence provides ample information on the performance of photosynthetic apparatus. Chl fluorescence signatures of leaves as an efficient tool and a nondestructive method for the in vivo analysis of plant stress is applying to describe and investigate the photosynthetic light processes and quantum conversion at physiological conditions as well as to detect stress on the photosynthetic apparatus. The chlorophyll fluorescence images were measured on leaves using the FluorCam 700MF imaging system (Photon Systems Instrument) as a techniques that offer the possibility to study the distribution and patchiness of fluorescence signatures over the whole leaf area. Chl fluorescence images were measured on the leaves of some spontaneous plants grown in sites with different level of steel plant air pollution assessed on base of different distances and different directions from the source of the pollution. Efficiency of photosynthetic apparatus of analyzed plants was evaluated via chlorophyll fluorescence images during induction kinetics and various fluorescence ratio images. The images of Chl fluorescence ratios, acquired by pixel to pixel arithmetic operations performed by FluorCam software, were aplied as indicators of the functional state or the damage of the photosynthetic apparatus. The potential and effective quantum yields of photosynthetic electron transport were estimated too. Observed differences on imaging of chlorophyll fluorescence signature and photosynthetic pigment content of some spontaneous plants allowed characterizing of the photosynthetic performance in order to evaluate the damage by plant steel air pollution. Keywords: chlorophyll fluorescence imaging, induction kinetics, plant steel air pollution, photosynthetic apparatus, potential/effective quantum yield, spontaneous plant.
Keywords
Conference or Workshop Item
PeerReviewed
PeerReviewed
Date
2012-05-31
Extent
1231