Research on the method of monitoring air pollutants by plants

Monitoring air pollutants via plants is an economic, convenient and credible method compared with the traditional ways. Plants show different damage symptoms to different air pollutants, which can be used to determine the species of air pollutants. Besides, pollutants mass concentration scope can be estimated by the damage extent of plants and the span of polluted time. Based on the research at home and overseas, this paper discusses the principles, mechanism, advantages and disadvantages of plant-monitoring, exemplifies plenty of such plants and the minimum mass concentration and pollution time of the plants showing damage symptoms. Finally, the methods and many advantages of using plants to monitor air pollutants are introduced.