University of South Florida Scholar Commons Graduate Theses and Dissertations Graduate School November 2020 The Use of Spanish Moss as a Biological Indicator to Examine Relationships Between Metal Air Pollution, Vegetation Cover, and Environmental Equity in Tampa, Florida Yousif Abdullah University of South Florida Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons, Environmental Law Commons, and the Environmental Sciences Commons Scholar Commons Citation Abdullah, Yousif, "The Use of Spanish Moss as a Biological Indicator to Examine Relationships Between Metal Air Pollution, Vegetation Cover, and Environmental Equity in Tampa, Florida" (2020). Graduate Theses and Dissertations. https://scholarcommons.usf.edu/etd/8505 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at Scholar Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Graduate Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of Scholar Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Use of Spanish Moss as a Biological Indicator to Examine Relationships Between Metal Air Pollution, Vegetation Cover, and Environmental Equity in Tampa, Florida by Yousif Abdullah A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy School of Geosciences College of Arts and Sciences University of South Florida Co-Major Professor: Shawn Landry, Ph.D. Co-Major Professor: Ruiliang Pu, Ph.D. Amy Stuart, Ph.D. Zachary Atlas, Ph.D. Date of Approval: October 30, 2020 Keywords: Tillandsia usneoides, biomonitor, tree cover, environmental justice Copyright © 2020, Yousif Abdulla DEDICATION Thank you, God, for your mercy and grace and for all the blessings that you have bestowed upon me and my family. It is our faith in you that lift us up and gives us the strength to face life’s obstacles and appreciate its rewards. With my deepest gratitude, I dedicate this dissertation to my beloved family: my parents, wife and children. To my wonderful parents, Yaqoub and Ameena, thank you for the love and support that you have given me throughout the years. It was with your unconditional love and continuous encouragement throughout my life, especially during my education years, that I was able succeed and become the person I am today. Having to study abroad, away from my you for eight years must be one of the most difficult experiences that I have faced. At last I have completed my long academic journey, and it is finally time for me to come back home. I promise I will not be away from you for that long again. I also want to thank my incredible and loving wife Noura, who has been my rock through thick and thin, for taking care of me and my children and for holding down the fort while I was busy. You have stood by my side though eight long academic years, away from your family and home and it would be impossible to have done this without you. There are no words to describe how grateful I am for you and for everything you have done. To my son and daughter, Yaqoub and Sarah, having you both in our lives while we were abroad brought joy into our home. We were lucky to have seen you grow from little babies to beautiful four and three-year-old toddlers. I am glad that I am done with my education so that I get to spend more time with you two. Though it seems impossible to repay all of you for the happiness you have brought me, I hope to do so by being a good son, husband, and father. I love you all. ACKNOWLDGMENTS There are many people that I would love to extend my gratitude to. A single page is not enough to mention all the names of those whom have helped me, either directly or indirectly, to complete my dissertation. I would love to recognize the following people: Yaqoub Abdullah, Humoud Alqashan, Obaid Al Otaibi, Mohammad Al Sahli, Raghad Al Kanderi, Luke Palder, Cristina Arbaiza, Georgia Michael, Wesley Mayhem, Jacob MacCartney, Emily Rego, James Panciroli, Dinah Hunsicker, Drew Templeton, Stephanie Robinson, Kristina O'Keefe, Sara Ziegler, Megan Dunne, Haley Coe, Jenna Zarate, Veronica Buccieri, Ray Dominguez, Erin Vogel, Julie Sanchez, Wang Luwen, Geography department at Kuwait university, and the faculty and staff of schools of Geosciences at University of South Florida. Also, I would love to thank Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS). The project was funded by Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS) under project code “CB19-41SE-01”. I would like to thank my advisors Shawn Landry and Ruiliang Pu for their support and mentoring. I also would like to thank my committee members Zachray Atlas and Amy Stuart for all of their advice and help. I have always said that I was lucky to have had such a great committee. I gained an invaluable amount of knowledge and wisdom from everyone during this incredibly challenging, yet, rewarding experience. Finally, to my family, thank you for everything, I love you. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................................................. iii LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................................................... vi ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2: SPANISH MOSS AS AN AIR POLLUTION MEASUREMENT METHOD .......................................... 5 2.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 5 2.2 Literature review ........................................................................................................................ 5 2.2.1 Biomonitors and Bioindicators .................................................................................. 5 2.2.2 Epiphytic plants .......................................................................................................... 6 2.2.3 Spanish moss (Tillandsia usneoides) .......................................................................... 6 2.2.4 Standardized methodology and biomonitoring ......................................................... 7 2.2.5 Biomonitoring study types ......................................................................................... 9 2.2.6 Previous biomonitoring studies’ experiments and goals ......................................... 10 2.2.7 Air pollution-related applications involving bioindicators ....................................... 18 2.3 Research question .................................................................................................................... 19 2.4 Methods ................................................................................................................................... 20 2.4.1 Study area and scope ............................................................................................... 20 2.4.2 Data .......................................................................................................................... 21 2.4.3 Sampling ................................................................................................................... 23 2.4.4 Sampling protocol .................................................................................................... 24 2.4.5 Sample’s lab preparation ......................................................................................... 24 2.4.6 Metals analysis ......................................................................................................... 25 2.4.7 Quality assurance ..................................................................................................... 27 2.4.8 Statistical analysis .................................................................................................... 28 2.5 Results ...................................................................................................................................... 30 2.6 Discussion................................................................................................................................. 38 CHAPTER 3: TREE COVER AS AIR POLLUTION REMOVAL ............................................................................ 44 3.1 Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 44 3.2 Literature review ...................................................................................................................... 45 3.2.1 Vegetation mapping................................................................................................. 45 3.2.2 Factors affecting process of vegetation-air-pollution-removal ............................... 46 3.2.3 Studies in calculating vegetation air-pollution removal .......................................... 47 3.2.3.1 Air pollution variation in different land use types ................................... 48 3.2.3.2 Vegetation as a barrier ............................................................................ 49 3.2.4 Atmospheric metal (particulate matter) removal by vegetation cover................... 50 3.3 Research question ...................................................................................................................