IMPACT NO2, SO2 AND O3 AIR POLLUTANTS TO MAHOGANY (SWIETENIA MACROPHYLLA) BASED ON APTI (AIR POLLUTION TOLERANT INDEX) PARAMETERS (CASE STUDY: BANDUNG RAYA)

• Main Author: GHAIDA, AZKA
• Format: Theses
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/25998
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

Plants play important roles in ecosystem, e.g. as pollutant reducer in the atmosphere by absorbing particles and gases. However, when plants absorb pollutants, some of the chemical components in the leaves such as ascorbic acid, chlorophyll, pH, and relative water content could change. This condition might affect the plants and cause physiological responds in them. Nevertheless, there is no record on impacts of air pollution to plants in Bandung Raya. This study aims to evaluate the impact of air pollutants, of NO2, SO2 and O3 to Mahogany (Sweitenia macrophylla). Four different land-use types were selected in this study to represent spatial variation (residential, industrial, transportation, and conservation area). We conducted passive sampling method for measuring air quality. Chi-square and One-Way ANOVA were used to analyze relation and differences in APTI and pollutant parameters for each land-use and ArcGIS 10.3 was used for spatial analyses. The study found higher concentration of NO2, SO2, and O3 in industrial and transportation area. Spatial analysis of APTI parameters found a significant different between ascorbic acid content among land-use areas (F = 10.602; p= 0.000 Tukey post-hoc test p = 0.000 for conservation area and transportation; p= 0,001 for conservation area and residential area; p= 0.003 for conservation area and industrial area), while there was no difference between relative water content, pH, and total chlorophyll. Critical level is used to determine potential impacts to ecosystem/plants/forest in Europe. It is used in this study as such standard threshold has not been existed in Indonesia. Although NO2 concentrations were still below critical level, it was found that based on chi-square analysis, there is a significant relation between relatively higher NO2 concentration and lower ascorbic acid in the leaves (Asymp.sig = 0.017; r = -0.666; p=0.002) These finding points out that NO2 might responsible for acidification that triggers the physiological change in plants although the negative symptoms has not yet physically exhibited.