A University researcher may have found another source of air pollution in addition to the usual suspects such as fossil fuel emissions: the kudzu plant.
While the research is ongoing, Environmental Science Prof. Manuel Lerdau said his research so far identifies kudzu as a significant contributor to air pollution.
According to Lerdau, kudzu is a vine in the bean family native to East Asia that came to the United States in the early twentieth century. While it is abundant in the deep South, ranging from Louisiana to Georgia, Lerdau said kudzu has expanded northward as winters have become warmer.
"Expansion is well correlated with increases in minimum winter temperature," Lerdau said. "Kudzu was being held back by cold winters."
Lerdau explained that kudzu produces both isoprene and nitric oxide, which are the two precursors to ozone. Large concentrations of isoprene and nitric oxide affect air quality.
Chris Holstege, director of the Blue Ridge Poison Center, said ozone can cause health problems. He used recent smog problems in Los Angeles as an example of its effects.
"Ozone is an irritant," Holstege said. He added that it particularly affects asthmatics and can cause lung and eye irritation.
Lerdau, also the director of the University's Blandy Experimental Farm, said he and Jonathan Hickman, a graduate student at the State University of New York at Stony Brook, have studied kudzu in greenhouse and field experiments and in studies of natural populations in Georgia and Maryland.
While their research in Georgia indicates that kudzu increases air pollution, Hickman said the Maryland data was unclear.
"Climate could play a role," Hickman said.
Lerdau and Hickman have not studied the kudzu plant within the Commonwealth, and its effect specifically in Virginia is unknown.
Environmental Specialist Carolyn Stevens of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said overall ozone levels in the Commonwealth have declined in recent years, which she attributed to a state implementation plan to reduce nitrogen oxide emissions.
Hickman said the research could hopefully make controlling the spread of kudzu a higher priority.
"We are hoping to give people an idea what the threat actually is," Hickman said.
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