ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Changes in Heavy Metal Accumulation Depending
on Traffic Density in Some Landscape Plants
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1
Kastamonu University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Environmental Engineering,
Kastamonu, Turkey
2
Kastamonu University, Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Department of Landscape Architecture,
Kastamonu, Turkey
3
Kastamonu University, Institute of Science, Program of Forest Engineering, Kastamonu, Turkey
Submission date: 2017-09-24
Final revision date: 2017-10-12
Acceptance date: 2017-10-14
Online publication date: 2018-04-13
Publication date: 2018-05-30
Corresponding author
Mehmet Cetin
Temple University, Civil and Environmental Engineering 1947 North 12th Street, 19122, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Unite, 19122 Philadelphia, United States
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2018;27(5):2277-2284
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ABSTRACT
Air pollution is among the major problems stemming from modern urban life. Millions of people
worldwide die from air pollution every year. Especially heavy metals have great importance among
these pollutants. Because heavy metals can stay in nature for a long time without deterioration, and their
concentration in the environment is constantly increasing. They also tend to bioaccumulate. Many heavy
metals arise from exhaust gases, car wheels, vehicles, and vehicle corrosion in cities. Determining heavy
metal concentrations in plants is important both for determining the ability of plants to remove heavy
metals from the air, and thus to be used as a means of increasing air quality, as well as for monitoring air
quality. The purpose of this study is to determine the variation of different heavy metal concentrations,
depending on the traffic density, in some landscape plants sampled from areas with different levels
of traffic density. Our results show that heavy metal accumulation differs according to both plant
species and traffic density. In traffic-dense areas we measured the greatest amounts of Cu, Ni, and Fe in
Prunus cerasifera; of Ca, Mg, and Mn in Ailanthus altissima; of Cr and Zn in Elaeagnus angustifolia; and
of Pb and Cd in Tilia tomentosa.