Accumulation of Major, Minor and Trace Elements in Pine Needles (Pinus nigra) in Vienna (Austria).

Michaela Zeiner,Iva Juranović Cindrić

doi:10.3390/molecules26113318

Michaela Zeiner, Iva Juranović Cindrić

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26113318

Copy DOI

Abstract

Increasing heavy metal pollution in the environment and the fact that pine needles are good bio-monitors for air pollutants was the reason to investigate their accumulation in pine needles in Vienna (Austria). Pinus nigra is widespread over the city, thus allowing the study of different parameters influencing metal accumulation. The sampling sites were chosen based on traffic volume (low, medium, high). Fresh shoots were collected alongside one-year-old needles once per week from May to August 2015. The needle samples were washed and dried prior to acidic microwave-assisted digestion followed by quantitative determination using spectrometric methods. The investigation was focused on the following elements: Ag, Al, As, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, Pb, Se, Sr, U, V, and Zn. The one-year-old needles mainly contained higher contents of elements than fresh shoots; in many cases, the values differed statistically significantly. By correlating needle elemental contents with the sampling site, statistically significant differences were registered for the majority of the investigated elements. These differences originate from the local traffic situation, soil elemental levels, translocation processes, and not traffic-related sources. No general trend of metal accumulation from spring to summer was registered.

Highlights

In recent decades, heavy metal pollution has steadily become a serious environmental problem, because of its toxicity and insusceptibility in the environment
Since the adverse effects to the environment and beings are more important for the characterization of an element than its density, the term potentially toxic elements (PTE) has been suggested instead [1]
A comparative study of metals in P. nigra needles from three different European cities, i.e., Salzburg (Austria), Belgrade (Serbia), and Thessaloniki (Greece), focused on four metals considered to be environmental pollutants, namely Cr, Cu, Fe, and Pb [15]. Whilst their values for Cu and Fe are in the same range as those from Vienna, the Cr and especially the Pb contents found by Sawidis and colleagues are much higher [15]

Summary

Introduction

Heavy metal pollution has steadily become a serious environmental problem, because of its toxicity and insusceptibility in the environment. Since the adverse effects to the environment and beings are more important for the characterization of an element than its density, the term potentially toxic elements (PTE) has been suggested instead [1]. Due to accumulation in crops or plants, these elements may harmfully affect animal or human physiological functions through the food chain [2,3,4]. Cadmium and lead are considered elements with adverse effects on animal and human health as they are readily transferred through food chains and are not known to serve any essential biological function [5]. Of prime importance for the study of trace element pollution in remote areas is the choice of suitable accumulative bio-monitors. Pine needles represent good bio-monitors of air pollutants, due to their waxy surfaces, which are prone to accumulate gaseous pollutants as well as polluting particulates [8,9]

Objectives

Results

Discussion

Conclusion