title: Richness, coverage and concentration of heavy metals in vascular epiphytes along an urbanization gradient.
abstract: Richness, coverage and concentration of heavy metals in vascular epiphytes were analyzed in isolated trees along an urbanization gradient in Southern Brazil. A total of 20 phorophytes were sampled in the main street of each site. Concentrations of chromium, cadmium, lead, manganese, nickel and zinc were measured in the leaves of Tillandsia recurvata L. using Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometry. A decreasing gradient of epiphyte richness and coverage was observed as urbanization increased. Vehicle fleet and demographic density were the parameters most correlated with the reduction of epiphytic diversity. In T. recurvata, significantly higher values of cadmium, lead and zinc were recorded in the most urbanized areas, and were strongly related to the vehicle fleet and to the demographic density in these sites. The results demonstrated that these parameters could be applied to the diagnosis of environmental quality in urban areas, allowing standardized analyses in other regions.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Botânica, Universidade Feevale, ERS-239, 2755 Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Electronic address: biologo.db@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Diego Fedrizzi Petry
authors.initials: DFP
authors.lastname: Becker
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Toxicologia, Universidade Feevale, ERS-239, 2755 Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Electronic address: rafael.linden@feevale.br.
authors.forename: Rafael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Linden
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Botânica, Universidade Feevale, ERS-239, 2755 Novo Hamburgo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Electronic address: jairols@feevale.br.
authors.forename: Jairo Lizandro
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Schmitt
mesh_terms: D001938:Brazil; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D018515:Plant Leaves / Q000737:chemistry; D013054:Spectrophotometry, Atomic; D031232:Tillandsia / Q000737:chemistry*; D014507:Urbanization
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy
keywords: Air quality; Bioindicators; Urbanization