Trace element pollution biomonitoring using the bark of Pinus brutia (Turkish red pine) in the Western Anatolian part of Turkey

Abstract

Ab stract. Back ground: Pinus brutia Ten (Turk ish red pine) is a wide spread ev er green tree in the Med i ter ra nean and Aegean re gions of Tur key. Meth ods: The barks of red pine were tested as a pos si ble biomonitor of trace el e ment pol lu tion stud ied in the West ern Ana to lian part of Tur key. Sam ples col lected from con trol, in dus try, road side, sub ur ban and ru ral ar eas from 30 lo ca tions in the study area were in ves ti gated. The con cen tra tion of cad mium, lead, chro mium, iron, nickel and cop per were de ter mined in the bark of the red pine by atomic ab sorp tion spec trom e try. Re sults: As re sults of this study, the fol low ing con cen tra tions were de ter mined: Cd: 0.60 – 0.71 μg g–1, Pb: 4.59 – 20.03 μg g–1, Cr: 0.44 – 3.17 μg g–1, Fe: 486.35 – 1274.04 μg g–1, Ni: 3.56 – 18.87 μg g–1 and Cu: 3.52 – 15.30 μg g–1. Con clu sion: The re sults of this study im ply that barks of P. brutia can be a use ful biomonitor for the de ter min ing heavy metal pol lu tion in an area.