Assessment of airborne heavy metal pollution by aboveground plant parts.

Italian stone pine (Pinus pinea L.) and oleander (Nerium oleander L.) leaves, bark and wood samples were collected at different sites around an industrial area (Huelva, SW Spain) and compared with samples of the same species from a background site. Samples were analysed with respect to the following pollutants: Al, Ba, Cr, Cu, Fe and Pb by ICP-AES. The suitability of different plant parts as biomonitors of pollution was investigated. In pine samples from the polluted sites the ratio of concentrations between bark and wood was high for Al, Ba, Cu and Fe, whereas no differences were found in samples from the unpolluted area. No differences were detected in oleander for the same ratio. In the oleander species, the ratio between leaves and wood concentration allowed to distinguish between control and polluted sites. The ratio of the concentration between leaves and wood was elevated for Al, Ba and Fe in pine samples from the polluted sites. The ratio of the concentration in bark or leaves to their concentration in wood might be useful to detect inorganic atmospheric pollutants.

[1]  T. G. Verburg,et al.  The use of tree bark for environmental pollution monitoring in the Czech Republic , 1998 .

[2]  M. D. Mingorance,et al.  Study of the Impact of Industrial Emission on the Vegetation Grown Around Huelva (South of Spain) City , 2004 .

[3]  J. Lill,et al.  Elemental analyses of pine bark and wood in an environmental study. , 2005, The Science of the total environment.

[4]  M. Freitas,et al.  An evaluation of olive-tree bark for the biological monitoring of airborne trace-elements at ground level. , 2002, Environmental pollution.

[5]  J. Lill,et al.  Environmental monitoring of trace elements in bark of Scots pine by thick-target PIXE , 2002 .

[6]  A. Stachurski,et al.  Intensity of retranslocation of macro- and microelements from ageing foliage of deciduous forest vegetation , 1992 .

[7]  D. A. Cataldo,et al.  Absorption, transport, and chemical fate of plutonium in soybean plants. , 1981, Journal of agricultural and food chemistry.

[8]  Domy C. Adriano,et al.  Trace Elements in Terrestrial Environments: Biogeochemistry, Bioavailability, and Risks of Metals , 2001 .

[9]  N. Bramall,et al.  Airborne uranium contamination--as revealed through elemental and isotopic analysis of tree bark. , 2001, Environmental pollution.

[10]  S. McLaughlin,et al.  Trace metal uptake and accumulation in trees as affected by environmental pollution , 1987 .

[11]  A. Gałuszka,et al.  The use of the barbell cluster ANOVA design for the assessment of environmental pollution: a case study, Wigierski National Park, NE Poland. , 2005, Environmental pollution.

[12]  D. Ceburnis,et al.  Conifer needles as biomonitors of atmospheric heavy metal deposition: comparison with mosses and precipitation, role of the canopy , 2000 .

[13]  V. Pandey,et al.  Chromium ions inactivate electron transport and enhance superoxide generation in vivo in pea (Pisum sativum L. cv. Azad) root mitochondria , 2002 .

[14]  E. Steinnes,et al.  Utilization of bark pockets as time capsules of atmospheric-lead pollution in Norway , 2004 .

[15]  X. Querol,et al.  Source apportionment analysis of atmospheric particulates in an industrialised urban site in southwestern Spain , 2002 .

[16]  A. Kabata-Pendias.  Trace elements in soils and plants , 1984 .

[17]  G. Zachariadis,et al.  A study of air pollution with heavy metals in Thessaloniki city (Greece) using trees as biological indicators , 1995 .

[18]  T. Hutchinson,et al.  Effects of Atmospheric Pollutants on Forests, Wetlands and Agricultural Ecosystems , 1987, NATO ASI Series.

[19]  A. Samecka-Cymerman,et al.  Comparison of the moss Pleurozium schreberi with needles and bark of Pinus sylvestris as biomonitors of pollution by industry in Stalowa Wola (southeast Poland). , 2006, Ecotoxicology and environmental safety.

[20]  N. Lust,et al.  Availability of heavy metals for uptake by Salix viminalis on a moderately contaminated dredged sediment disposal site. , 2005, Environmental pollution.

[21]  M. Ozturk,et al.  Nerium oleander L. as a biomonitor of lead and other heavy metal pollution in Mediterranean environments , 1997 .

[22]  S. Watmough,et al.  Uptake of 207Pb and 111Cd through bark of mature sugar maple, white ash and white pine: a field experiment. , 2003, Environmental pollution.