Can Abies alba Needles Be Used as Bio-passive Samplers to Assess Air Quality?

Stojanowska, Agnieszka; Górka, Maciej; Lewandowska, Anita; Wiśniewska, Kinga; Modelska, Magdalena; Wîdory, David

doi:10.4209/aaqr.210097

Cited by 5 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 44 publications

(60 reference statements)

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“…Due to their sensitivity to environmental conditions, leaves' anatomical traits can adapt to them, making the analysis of these parameters a simple, informative, and accessible tool for examining species variability [30][31][32]. Needle analysis is also the simplest way to determine the health status of trees [33][34][35].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Variability of Silver Fir Needle (Abies alba Mill.) Anatomical Features in the Southeast Europe Natural Populations

Popović,

Lučić,

Rakonjac

et al. 2024

Plants

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The survival of marginal/peripheral silver fir (Abies alba Mill.) populations in the broader region of Southeast Europe is endangered due to climate change and population decline. This study aimed to determine the level and pattern of variability for the anatomical traits of needles and the possibility of linking the pattern of phenotypic variability with environmental factors. In most of the analyzed needle traits, the statistically significant variability between populations was determined. According to the results of the multivariate principal component analysis, it is evident that the populations are distinct from each other, in three groups. The climatic factors Hargreaves reference evaporation, mean annual temperature, and growing degree-days, were statistically significantly correlated. The altitude and heating degree-days are statistically significantly correlated with the following three environmental factors: Hargreaves reference evaporation, mean annual temperature and growing degree-days, but negatively with others. The paper’s findings indicate significant moderate and high correlations between the anatomical traits of the needles’ central bundle diameter with the resin duct diameter, the distance between the vascular bundle and the resin duct and the epidermis thickness with cuticle, the resin duct diameter with the distance between the vascular bundle and the resin duct and the epidermis thickness with cuticle, as well as the distance between the vascular bundle and the resin duct with the hypodermis height and the epidermis thickness with cuticle. The results of agglomerative hierarchical clustering analysis, performed for anatomical and climatic traits, confirmed the existence of three groups of tested populations according to the altitude gradient. Research results provide knowledge on the diversity and structure of Abies alba populations of Southeast Europe, important for further research and guidelines for the species’ conservation and genetic variability preservation in the southern marginal distribution area and keeping in line with climate change projections.

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