Variation of heavy metal concentrations depending on growing environment in some plants

Today, air pollution is one of the most important problems that threaten human and environmental health. In addition to industrial activities and population growth, especially in the last century, migration from rural to urban areas causes air pollution to become a major problem, especially in large cities. Although there are many components of air pollution, heavy metals are of particular importance. The reason for this is that some of the heavy metals are pure toxic at low concentrations, many heavy metals that are nutrients for living beings are harmful at high costs in bile, live biodegradation process, they are not easily degraded in nature and are used in addition to them. For this reason, it is of great importance to monitor the heavy metal concentrations in the air, especially in risky conditions such as traffic processing, industrial activities and populated areas. Although different methods are used to monitor heavy metal pollution in the air, the most widely used method is biomonitor. Biomonitors are living things that accumulate heavy metals, especially perennial plants are very suitable biomonitors. However, in order to determine the most suitable plants for both monitoring the change in the concentration of heavy metal pollution in the air and reducing the concentration of heavy metal in the air, it is necessary to determine the plants that hold the most heavy metal in its body. In this study, it is grown in Samsun city center and frequently used in landscape studies; Tilia tomentosa, Aesculus hippocastanum, Ligustrum vulgare and Catalpa bignoides species have been tried to determine the changes of some heavy metal concentrations in individuals grown in areas where traffic is heavy, less dense and almost none. Within the scope of the study, leaf, bark and wood samples were collected from the plants, and washing operations were also carried out on the bark and leaves. As a result of the study, Ba, Sr, Fe, Na, Ca, K and Al concentrations in the species subject to the study changed significantly (p <0.05) on the basis of species, and the change of Zn concentration on the basis of species was not statistically significant (p> 0, 05) has been determined. According to the results of Duncan test, it was determined that Catalpa bignoides was in the first homogeneous groups in all elements and Tilia tomentosa was in the last homogeneous groups in terms of Ba, Sr, Fe, Na and Ca. In addition, heavy metal concentrations subject to the study vary significantly depending on all types of organs, traffic density and washing conditions.