Role of plants in mitigating pollution: A case study
Dipu Samanta1* and Samadrita Deb2
1*Department of Botany, Dr. Kanailal Bhattacharyya College, Howrah-711104 (India) 2Ex student, Department of Botany, University of Calcutta, Kolkata-700073 (India) *For correspondence dipusamanta2010@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Now a day, pollution is the serious threat or issue for the environment. Human activities, deforestation, civilization, mining, industrial wastes, burning of fossil fuels, use of chemicals in agricultural purposes, arbitrary use of plastics are some main reasons for pollution. All these environmental pollutionsare divided into several categories such as air pollution, water pollution, soil pollution, noise pollution, radioactive and thermal pollution. It has detrimental effects on the environment, including the life of all living beings. Plants are the biomitigator of environmental pollution. Green plants are the lungs of the earth. They absorb carbon dioxide from the air and release oxygen for their own photosynthetic purposes which in turn paramount for the survival of living beings. Not only known as natural oxygen generating factories, plants can also absorb dust, radiation and purify the air. Aloe vera, English ivy, Areca palm, Spider plant and bamboo palm are good air purifier. Eichhornia crassipes has the bio absorption capacity to clean industrial wastewater. Many plant species have the potential to absorb heavy metals from soil and water. Scientists call sunflower plants as hyperaccumulators which can absorb radioactive waste through roots and store in stems and roots. Trees and shrubs are able to mitigate noise pollution. Tree belts of Pinus brutia have the largest capacity of reducing noise pollution. Plants improve soil fertility and water quality, reduce soil erosion, purify and clean air. Planting trees is the ultimate way to get rid of pollution naturally from the Earth. A small case study has been incorporated to establish the fact in general.