Iranian Journal of Wood and Paper Industries

Iranian Journal of Wood and Paper Industries

Investigating of the heavy metals accumulation in the bark of woody species planted in green spaces of Isfahan city

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
Kord Behrouz 1
sara pourabbasi 2
ahmad Samariha 3
1 Department of Green Space Engineering, M.C., Islamic Azad University, Malayer, Iran
2 Department of Wood Science and Paper Technology, M.C., Islamic Azad University, Malayer, Iran
3 Department of Wood Industry, National University of Skills (NUS), Tehran, Iran.
10.22034/ijwp.2025.2076814.1736
Abstract
Problem definition and objectives: Heavy metals are persistent environmental pollutants that are mainly researched for the purpose of biological monitoring and removal from the environment. Today, the ability of plants to absorb, accumulates, and degrades pollutants or biomarkers are used to assess polluted environments. In addition, choosing species that can adapt to polluted environmental conditions is of great importance. The study aimed to investigate the accumulation of heavy metals such as lead, zinc, copper, chromium, nickel, and cadmium in the bark of the Ash (Fraxinus rotundifolia Mill.), Elm tree (Ulmus carpinifolia var umbraculifera Rehd.), Plantain tree (Platanus orientalis L.), Pine (Pinus Eldarica Medw.) and Cypress (Cupressus arizonica Greene.) trees in the green space of Isfahan city.
Methodology: For this purpose, Chahar Bagh Street in the city center was considered as a contaminated site and Fadak Forest Park on the outskirts of the city was considered as a control site and Considering the main wind direction , a transect of 1800 meters was selected and tree bark sampling was done in the form of a systematic randomness statistical design in three repetitions. A total of 90 tree bark samples were prepared, which after initial preparation and the concentration of heavy metals in them was measured using the device Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry was measured. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS version 19 software, and the analysis of variance test was used to investigate the significance of the effect of stations and tree species on heavy metal concentrations, Duncan's test was used to compare means, and Pearson's correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between element concentrations in tree bark at a 95% confidence level.
Results: The results showed that the concentration of heavy metals in the environment (air and soil) in the contaminated site was higher than in the control site. In addition, the concentration of heavy metals in the bark of trees in the contaminated habitat was significantly higher than in the control site and in order, Elm < Ash < Plantain tree < Cypress < Pine show an increase. Meanwhile, the results of the analysis of variance test showed that the effect of site on the accumulation of heavy metal concentrations in tree bark had a significant difference. Duncan's test also classified the average concentration of heavy metals in tree bark into different groups. In such a way that the concentration of elements is in the order of lead > cadmium > zinc > nickel > copper > chromium and the highest amount of lead metal and the bark of Pine trees in the contaminated site with 95.75 mg/kg and the lowest amount of chromium metal and elm tree bark was in the control site with 0.21 mg/kg. Pearson correlation analysis also indicates that lead and cadmium had the highest correlation among the elements studied.
Conclusion: Given that the concentration of heavy metals in the bark of Pine, Cypress, and Plantain tree was significantly higher than that of other trees studied, Therefore, the bark of these trees is a suitable indicator for tracking heavy metals and can be used as a biological indicator of pollution caused by these metals to assess environmental quality.
Keywords
Tree Bark
Heavy Metals
Mass Spectrometry
Urban Green Space
Isfahan
Subjects
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Iranian Journal of Wood and Paper Industries
Volume 17, Issue 1
Spring 2026
Pages 85-99