title: Assessment of atmospheric metal pollution in the urban area of Mexico City, using Ficus benjamina as biomonitor.
abstract: Concentrations of vanadium, chromium, cobalt, nickel, copper, zinc, antimony, and lead were measured in Ficus benjamina leaves from the Mexico City urban area in order to assess their enrichment against background values. The instrumental analysis was performed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and the analytical method was tested using two certified reference materials from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (1547 Peach Leaves and 1573a Tomato Leaves). Enrichment factors were calculated, i.e., total to background concentration ratio, for each metal. Low enrichments of vanadium, cobalt, nickel, and copper (≈2), and mild enrichments of chromium and zinc (4.4, 4.5 respectively) were found in the entire area; oppositely, high enrichments were assessed for antimony (28.6) and lead (17.2). However, results indicate that metal concentrations strongly depend on the specific urban sub-area. Increments of metals were attributed to natural, vehicular, and industrial sources.
authors: Facultad de Química, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Ciudad Universitaria, 04510 Mexico DF, México. fungijana85@hotmail.com
authors: Janin
authors: J
authors: Guzmán-Morales
authors: Ofelia
authors: O
authors: Morton-Bermea
authors: Elizabeth
authors: E
authors: Hernández-Álvarez
authors: María Teresa
authors: MT
authors: Rodríguez-Salazar
authors: María Elena
authors: ME
authors: García-Arreola
authors: Víctor
authors: V
authors: Tapia-Cruz
mesh_terms: D000393:Air Pollutants / Q000378:metabolism*; D000397:Air Pollution / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001272:Atmosphere / Q000737:chemistry*; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D030681:Ficus / Q000378:metabolism*; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000378:metabolism*; D008800:Mexico; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000393:Air Pollutants; D019216:Metals, Heavy