Industrial development and consumption of petroleum products leads to increase air pollution levels especially in urban and industrial areas. Heavy metal components associated with air pollutants have far reaching effects with respect to economic and ecological importance of pollens. The pollens are male reproductive organs of the plant and travel through air from flower to flower for pollination purpose. During this period they are exposed to air pollutants. Present investigation thus pertains to study of effect of air pollutants on pollens especially biosorption and bioaccumulation of heavy metals. The pollens of three commonly occurring plants namely Cassia siamea, Cyperus rotundus, Kigelia pinnata have been studied from the NH-6 of Nagpur city, India. The pollens exposed to polluted air showed the presence of higher concentrations of Ca, Al and Fe as compared to unexposed pollens. Higher concentration of these metals was observed in Cyperus rotundus followed by Cassia siamea and Kigelia pinnata. These results indicate that pollens act as good indicator of air pollution giving results in short time of exposure of 5-10 h. Apart from this, it is also reported that some of these metals play crucial role in the metabolic activity in pollens for example Calcium is necessary for growth of pollen tube and other metabolic activities in pollens. The presence of these metals in pollens may also enhance the allergenicity of the pollens. Similarly accumulation of heavy metals may also deteriorate the quality of pollen for their economical use. The viability of pollen is also affected by these pollutants in sensitive species leading to impairment of their fertility.

Heavy metals released from different sources in urban environment get adsorbed on respirable particulate matter less than 10 μm in size (PM(10)) and are important from public health point of view causing morbidity and mortality. Therefore, the ambient air quality monitoring was carried out to study the temporal and special pattern in the distribution of PM(10) and associated heavy metal content in the atmosphere of Nagpur, Maharashtra State, India during 2001 as well as in 2006. PM(10) fraction was observed to exceed the stipulated standards in both years. It was also observed that minimum range of PM(10) was observed to be increased in 2006 indicating increase in human activity during nighttime also. Six heavy metals were analyzed and were observed to occur in the order Zn > Fe > Pb > Ni > Cd > Cr in 2006, similar to the trend in other metro cities in India. Lead and Nickel were observed to be within the stipulated standards. Poor correlation coefficient (R(2)) between lead and PM(10) indicated that automobile exhaust is not the source of metals to air pollution. Commercial and industrial activity as well as geological composition may be the potential sources of heavy metal pollution. Total load of heavy metals was found to be increased in 2006 with prominent increase in zinc, lead, and nickel in the environment. Public health impacts of heavy metals as well as certain preventive measures to mitigate the impact of heavy metals on public health are also summarized.

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Carbon dioxide concentration is an index of total amount of combustion and natural ventilation in an urban environment and therefore required more careful attention for assessment of CO(2) level in air environment. An attempt was made to monitor CO(2) levels in ambient air of Nagpur city at industrial, commercial and residential sites. In addition to this a remote sensing studies and biotic survey for floral biodiversity were carried out to study the green cover at respective sampling locations. The observations showed that the largest amount of CO(2) occurred at night due to absence of photosynthesis and lowest concentration of CO(2) was observed in the afternoon due to photosynthesis at its maximum level. The most pollution tolerant species found in Nagpur city are having higher Air Pollution Tolerance Index (APTI) value, which acts as a natural sink for CO(2) sequestration. In case of commercial site the CO(2) level is highest (366 ppm) because of lowest vegetation and vehicular pollution. The generation of database of CO(2) concentration and floral biodiversity along with percentage of green cover helps to formulate the strategy for prevention of global worming phenomenon.