Bioaccumulation of heavy metals by the urban trees around Cherkassy thermal power plant

Abstract

N.M. Kornelyuk, O.M. Khomenko

Woody plants are able not only to absorb metals of anthropogenic origin, but also to deposit their significant quantities in wood, leaves, and thereby temporarily remove them from the cycle of substances of urban ecosystems. The paper compares the content of heavy metals – Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd in the leaves of the bioindicator species Pоpulus рyramidalis Roz and their mobile forms in soils collected from 6 test locations from various functional zones of the Southern industrial district of the City of the Cherkassy. Soil-geochemical associations of Cu, Zn, Pb and Cd content in the investigated locations indicate that the main source of Zn, Cu is the emissions of of the Cherkassy thermal power plant, and Pb, Cd – of urban transport. According to the total accumulation in the leaves of P. pyramidalis. The heavy metals are located as follows: Pb> Cd> Cu> Zn. It was established that the content of mobile forms of Cu, Zn, Pb, and Cd in the soils of the experimental sites was several times higher than background values, and the coefficient of biological accumulation in the leaves fluctuated in insignificant limits. According to the results of indicators of the accumulation coefficient, the leaves of P. pyramidalis have low bioavailability in Cu and Zn, and the availability of Pb and Cd approaches the average. The obtained data can be used for the creation and reconstruction of green plantings of urban transport highways, sanitary protection zones of industrial sites of enterprises, recreational areas, squares.

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