Abstract
Tree tissues can accumulate heavy metals from the environment. We therefore aimed to evaluate the presence of the metals Pb, Cr, Mn, Cu, and Zn in four street tree species, namely Ailanthus altissima, Broussonetia papyrifera, Pinus tabuliformis, and Rhus typhina, along the highway side of Bei**g, China. Sampling from the leaves, trunk bark, and branch annual segment bark of trees was conducted in the summer of 2021, and the concentration of heavy metals was determined. The results revealed the highest average concentration of total heavy metals in the R. typhina leaves (23.724 mg/kg) and barks (14.454 mg/kg). The maximum bio-concentration factor was noted for Zn in the B. papyrifera leaves (0.36) and P. tabuliformis barks (0.21). The maximum comprehensive bio-concentration index was observed for the B. papyrifera leaves (0.225) and P. tabuliformis bark (0.108). The maximum metal accumulation index was measured in the R. typhina leaves (29.682) and bark (12.407). Based on the air-originated metals, P. tabuliformis showed the highest dust collection capacity. In general, B. papyrifera and P. tabuliformis exhibited the highest absorption rate from the soil relative to the other studied species. R. typhina demonstrated the strongest phytoremediation ability for heavy metal pollution in air. In addition, our results proved that the branch annual segment bark of P. tabuliformis is an excellent record carrier that can be used to monitor heavy metal pollution in a specific time duration in an urban area.
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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Thanks to the State Key Laboratory of Forest Tree Genetics and Breeding of the Chinese Academy of Forestry, the Element Analysis Office of the Institute of Natural Resources and Geography, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the above authors for their help and support.
Funding
This study was funded by the Central Public-interest Scientific Institution Basic Research Fund (CAFYBB2017SY003) and Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Non-Profit Research Institution of Chinese Academy of Forestry (CAFYBB2018ZB001).
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Contributions
Z. Jiang and X. Zhao conceived the idea of the study. R. Liu analysed most of the data. Y. Liu interpreted the results. J. Zhou revised the article.
