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

Abstract

Back ground: Pinus brutia Ten (Turk ish red pine) is a widespread ev ergreen 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. Samples 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 termined 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 trations were de termined: 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 results of this study imply that barks of P. brutia can be a use ful biomonitor for the de termin ing heavy metal pollu tion in an area.