Kudzu Vines Actually CONTRIBUTE to Air Pollution
Kudzu plants produce air pollution and soil VOCs
Kudzu is a ubiquitous Southern invasive vine that is migrating northward with global warming. And now research indicates that kudzu emits gases that contribute to air pollution.
Kudzu forms ground level ozone, or smog
Researchers Lerdau and Jonathan Hickman of the State University of New York at Stony Brook have determined that kudzu emits gases that contribute to the formation of ground level ozone, or smog. The major manmade sources of ground level ozone are cars and coal-fired power plants. While some growing plants also contribute to ozone pollution, kudzu appears to produce these gases faster and in larger quantities. It’s not clear whether kudzu is producing enough gases to warrant a widespread eradication program.
Invasive plant spreads rapidly
The fast-growing plant covers an estimated 11,580 square miles in the United States, primarily in the Southeast. The invasive, rapidly growing vine adds 200 square miles to its domain ANNUALLY.
VOC isoprene and ammonium
Kudzu produces two key ingredients of ozone: fast growing kudzu leaves emit a volatile organic compound called isoprene into the air, and the kudzu roots convert atmospheric nitrogen into ammonium, some of which can leak into the soil where it is converted by bacteria into nitric oxide. In the presence of sunlight, isoprene and nitric oxide mix together to make ozone.
While many plants contribute to ozone pollution, it appears that kudzu works faster and produces larger quantities.
Native plant of Japan and China, Distributed by CCC
Kudzu is a native of Japan and China and was introduced in the United States in 1876 as an ornamental plant at the Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. It was widely distributed as a way to control soil erosion, and during the 1930s and 1940s the Civilian Conservation Corps planted vast amounts of the vine. By 1953, the U.S. Department of Agriculture recognized that kudzu was spreading too rapidly and removed the vine from its list of recommended cover plants. But that was too late.
Hmmm...
Edited by Carolyn Allen, owner/publisher of Solutions For Green
Publication Date:
2/14/2008
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