Researchers pinpoint how trees play role in smog production

[OKIsItJustMe]

http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/5998/107/

[font face=Serif][font size=5]Researchers pinpoint how trees play role in smog production[/font]

Thursday, April 25, 2013

[font size=3]After years of scientific uncertainty and speculation, researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill show exactly how trees help create one of society’s predominant environmental and health concerns: air pollution.

It has long been known that trees produce and emit isoprene, an abundant molecule in the air known to protect leaves from oxygen damage and temperature fluctuations. However, in 2004, researchers, contrary to popular assumptions, revealed that isoprene was likely involved in the production of particulate matter, tiny particles that can get lodged in lungs, lead to lung cancer and asthma, and damage other tissues, not to mention the environment.

But exactly how was anybody’s guess.

…

The study found that isoprene, once it is chemically altered via exposure to the sun, reacts with man-made nitrogen oxides to create particulate matter. Nitrogen oxides are pollutants created by cars, trucks, aircrafts, coal plants and other large scale sources.

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http://dx.doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1221150110

(Insert obligatory Reagan comment here.)

[riverbendviewgal]

1. 80 percent of the Madagascar forest is gone

we are in serious trouble.

[Buzz Clik]

2. I always have difficulty spelling "non sequitur", but I think I got it this time.

[Buzz Clik]

3. I can't say anything about Reagan? Harumph.

Well, I guess, that's fascinating research. It's remarkable how plants are so efficient at manipulating their microenvironment.