Urban particulate matter reaching Atlantic Rainforest remnants near Brazilian metropolis: an alert for environmental protection authorities

The increasing air pollutant emission, mainly in big cities, attracts significant attention to environmental sciences. Brazil boasts an important tropical forest, the Atlantic Rainforest, and the most important remnants areas are located in the state of Rio de Janeiro. In that regard, this study aimed to assess the impact of particulate matter (PM) emitted by traffic in ecosystems belonging to environmental protection areas (EPAs) near important highways with heavy traffic in southeastern Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most comprehensive study on air pollution and its impacts on EPAs in Brazil. PM concentrations (TSP, PM10, and PM2.5) from 14 air quality monitoring stations and meteorological parameters were obtained between 2014 and 2016 near EPAs. It was verified that CONAMA annual standard (Brazilian legislation) was overtake in five monitoring stations and in eight of them CONAMA daily standard was exceed. Wind direction was mainly from urban centers to EPAs, indicating that urban pollutants reach forest remnants in most cases, which may represent ecological risk. In order to guarantee environmental preservation, new studies should be performed to evaluate deeply the effect of air pollutants on fauna and flora of preserved areas.