Quercus ilex as bio-indicator of metal pollution in the area of the Terni, Italy
by Loretta Gratani; Maria Fiore Crescente; Rosangela Catoni; Ilaria Rita Guiducci; Donatella Bartoli; Gaia Piccini; Romina Quondam Luigi; Federica Rocchi; Laura Varone
International Journal of Environment and Pollution (IJEP), Vol. 64, No. 4, 2018

Abstract: Trees are effective scavengers of both gaseous and particulate pollutants from the atmosphere. The objective of this research was to evaluate heavy metal pollution in the territory of the steel factory 'Acciai Speciali Terni S.p.A' (Italy) by monitoring Quercus ilex trees naturally growing in the area. Measurements were carried out at three sites (site 1, 2 and 3) at different distances from the steel factory (1.9, 2.3 and 7.2 km from the factory, respectively). The most part of the metals (As, Ba, Cd, Cr, Fe, Ni, Pb, V and Zn) had a decreasing trend from site 1 to site 3. Among them, Cr showed the highest decrease (97%) and Zn the lowest (44%). At a morphological level, leaf mass area (LMA) was lower at site 3 (12.9±1.0 mg cm⁻²) than at site 1 (14.9±1.1 mg cm⁻²). The same trend was observed for leaf thickness significantly decreasing by 38% from site 1 to site 3. Overall, the results highlighted a high responsiveness of Q. ilex, making it a good bio-indicator for the long-term monitoring of metal concentration variations in the territory of the steel factory.

Online publication date: Mon, 06-May-2019

The full text of this article is only available to individual subscribers or to users at subscribing institutions.

 
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.

Pay per view:
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.

Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Environment and Pollution (IJEP):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:

Username:        Password:          Forgotten your password?

Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.

If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com