ABSTRACT
Turkish red pine (Pinus brutia) is a widespread evergreen tree in Mediterranean and Aegean regions of Turkey. The barks of Pinus brutia were tested as a possible biomonitor of Zn and Mn accumulation studied in Western Anatolia, Turkey. Samples collected from industry, roadside, suburban and rural areas from thirty locations in the study area were investigated. The concentration of zinc and manganese were determined in the bark of the red pine by atomic absorption spectrometry. As a result of this study, the following mean concentrations were determined: for Zn between min 8.4 and max 14.1 mg g-1, and for Mn between min 19.1 and max 24.0 mg g-1. It was found that there is no affect of location on the element concentration of both Mn and Zn.
ABSTRACT
The West Anatolian Region is one of the most important areas for industrialization, population density and traffic in Turkey. Therefore, the leaves of Populus nigra L. (Salicaceae), which are used as biomonitor to investigate the levels of the trace elements Cd, Pb, Fe, Zn and Cu, were sampled at 30 locations having different pollution levels in the region. The concentrations of elements were determined by atomic absorption spectrometry. The samples were collected at both reference and contaminated locations where iron was found as the priority element. The strong association between a gradient of contamination and concentration in all samples tested indicates that they are reflecting well the environmental changes, and that they appear as appropriate biological indicators of heavy metal contamination.