ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Inhabitants Close to Main Roads on Outskirts
of Metropolitan Cities are Exposed More to SOx;
Eucalyptus Tree as Bioindicator
Muhammad Adnan Iqbal1, 2, Shujah Zaib1, Rosenani A. Haque2,
Muhammad Imran3, Narimah Samat4, Farah Kanwal3
More details
Hide details
1Department of Chemistry, The Minhaj University, Lahore, Pakistan
2School of Chemical Sciences, University Sains Malaysia, Penang-11800, Malaysia
3Insitute of Chemistry, University of the Punjab, Lahore-54590, Pakistan
4School of Humanities, University Sains Malaysia, Penang-11800, Malaysia
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2012;21(2):375-379
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
Fifty samples of Eucalyptus tree leaves were collected in such a way that 25 samples were collected
from the vicinity of roads where traffic density is high and 25 samples were collected away from roads where
traffic density is low or almost negligible. The purpose was to assess whether inhabitants away from main
roads on the outskirts of metropolitan cities are exposed to the same amount of SOx as those who live close to
main roads using the Eucalyptus tree as a bioindicator. The mean concentration values showed alarming differences
of accumulation for both types of areas, which concluded that the inhabitants close to the main roads
on average are exposed to more than double (2.23 times) SOx as those away from the roads.