Trace element leaf accumulation in native trees from the remainingSemideciduous Atlantic Forest in Brazil

Özet

Remnants of Semideciduous Atlantic Forest surrounded by numerous industries, intense road traffic and agri-cultural lands in Southeast Brazil have been affected by trace elements. We implemented a passive biomoni-toring with the three most abundant native tree species (Astronium graveolens, CrotonfloribundusandPiptadeniagonoacantha) to answer these questions: 1) which species has the greatest potential to accumulate trace ele-ments?; 2) does the leaf accumulation level of trace elements vary between the edge and interior of the forestremnants, between dry and wet periods or due to the distance from the industrial area?; 3) which species, amongthe most abundant in the forest remnants, would better indicate the spatial variations in trace elements pollutionand which elements would be the most relevant for such spatial discrimination? Leaf samples were collectedduring the dry and wet seasons, at the edge and interior of four forest remnants. Trace elements were determinedusing inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP MS). Few edge effects were evidenced in the leafconcentrations in all species. Higher concentrations of most trace elements were measured during dry season.AlthoughC.floribundusshowed the most accumulating capacity,A. graveolenswas the most appropriate speciesto discriminate spatial variations. The forest closer to the industrial area was distinguished from the others byMn and Ni from oil burning, but the metal pollution from the industrial area did not interfere on the leafconcentrations inA. graveolenssampled in the urban and rural forests.