The usability of yellow pine (Pinus sylvestris L.) persons as biomonitor for monitoring heavy metal pollution from traffic sources

Environmental pollution has become one of the most important problems of the modern world. Heavy metals have a special importance among the factors causing air pollution. Some heavy metals have serious toxic effects on organisms even at low levels. In addition, heavy metals do not deteriorate easily in nature and they tend to bioaccumulate in human organism. Because of its importance in terms of human and environmental health, monitoring of heavy metal pollution and identifying risky regions is of great importance. It was aimed to determine the usability potential of Scotch Pine (Pinus sylvestris) in monitoring the traffic welded heavy metal concentration. For this purpose, samples of Scotch Pine individuals were collected from one of the busiest highways of Turkey, at the route of Ankara-Istanbul, from refuges, at roadsides and at distances of 3 m, 10 m, 30 m, 50 m and 100 m from the roadside. Some of the branches and needles of the samples were also subjected to washing process and the changes of Ni, Cr, Zn, Cu, Pb and Cd concentrations were determined on these samples. Within the scope of the study, the change of all concentrations depending on the distance to the road, washing conditions and organelle were evaluated separately. As a result of the study, it was determined that all elements changed significantly by organs. In addition, it was determined that Cd and Cr concentration was inversely proportional to the distance to the road and therefore Scotch Pine is a good biomonitor especially at monitoring the change of Cr and Cd concentration.