Risk Evaluation of Brick Kiln Smoke to Acacia arabica

Risk analysis is an important technique to estimate impacts on the environment for adopting effective measures to avoid risks. This field study was conducted to investigate the risk of brick kiln (BK) smoke on the shoots of Acacia arabica. Different phenotypic parameters including morphology and growth of shoots and epidermal imprints of the leaves were studied in the vicinity of a brick kiln situated 500 meters away from Lahore-Raiwind Road, Lahore, Pakistan. Results show that smoke exposure has posed differential effects on shoots i.e. some shoots of same tree remained normal, others died and still others were badly affected by the smoke. Moreover, the number of leaves and fresh weight in the smoke affected shoots significantly reduced as compared with normal ones. The study of the epidermal imprints of the leaves of these normal and smoke effected shoots revealed that the mean values of the stomatal size of both adaxial and abaxial surfaces of the normal and smoke effected leaves were not statistically significant. However, the number of stomata on both epidermal layers of smoke effected leaves was significantly reduced as compared with normal ones. This study showed that due to the exposure to BK smoke, the growth of Acacia arabica trees in the field was significantly suppressed. REFERENCES Chaudhari, G. S. , Rao, N.V. and Inamdar, I. A. (1984) Effect of air pollution on leaf epidermis and architecture of Lycopersicon lycopersicum L. Karet var angurlata. Indian J., Environ. Health, 26, 238- 243. Ceulemans, R. and Mousseau, M. (1994) Effects of elevated CO2 on woody plants New Physiologist, 127, 425- 446. Creed, E. R. , Lees, D. R. and Ducket, J. G. (1973) Biological methods of estimating smoke and SO2 pollution. Nature, 244, 278- 280. Garg, K. K. and Varshney, C. K. (1980) (recd.1981). Effect of air pollution on the leaf epidermis at the sub microscopic level. Experiential (Basel) 36, 1364-1366. Honjyo, Takaaki, Toshio, S. and Yuuji, S. (1980) Recd. 1981. Influence of air pollution on the forest trees. Sci.Rep.Kyoto Prefect Uni. Agric. , 32, 125- 127. Irwin, J. G. and Williams, M. L. (1988) Acid Rain: Chemistry and Transport. Environ. Poll. 50, 29- 59. Johnson, D. W. and Taylor, G. E. (1989) Role of Air Pollution in Forest Decline in Eastern North America. Water Air Soil Poll. 48, 21-43. Keller, T. (1984) Direct effects of sulfur dioxide on trees Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London Series B 305,317- 326. Matyssek, R. , Reich, P. B. , Oren, R. and Winner, W. E. (1995) Response mechanisms of conifers to air pollutants. In Smith, W.K & Hinckley, T.M. (eds.), Ecophysiology of Coniferous Forests, Academic Press, San Diego, pp. 255- 308. NWFP Environmental Protection Agency, (2004) Environmental Assessment Checklists and Guidelines, Brick Kiln, pdf. P 1-20, JICA Country Profile On Environment Pakistan, (1999). Japan International Cooperation Agency, p.1-27, pdf. Rao, D.N. (1985). Air pollution and plants. Biol. Mem. 11, 60-71. Schulze, E. D. , Loge, 0. L. and Oren, (1989) Forest Decline and Air Pollution. Ecological Studies 77. Springer-Verlag. Berlin. Takaaki, H. , Scnoo, T. and Swond, Y. (1980) Influence of air pollution on forest trees. Sci. Rep. Kyoto. Prefect. Uni. Agric. , 33, 125-137. Taylor, G. E. ; Johnson, D.W. and Andersen, C.P. (1994) Air pollution and forest ecosystems: A regional to global perspective. Ecological Applications 4, 662-689. Winner, W. E. (1994) Mechanistic analysis of plant responses to air pollution Ecological Applications 4, 651- 661.