Heavy metals in the leaves of tree species paulownia elongata syhu in the region of the city of Belgrade

Based on the analysis of the heavy metal content (Zn, Fe, Pb, Cu, Ni, Cr Mn, Cd, As, Hg) in leaves of the trees growing in the urban part of the city of Belgrade, wider city area and rural area it may be noted that the content of Fe, Pb, Ni, Cr and Cd increases going from rural to urban area. The obtained results may be related to the increased air pollution in urban and suburban areas where some of these heavy metals appear as a direct consequence of fuel combustion. The level of tolerance of the species Paulownia elongata S.Y.HU towards air pollution represents the basis for its development and survival in urban conditions as well as setting up of tree alleys and forming wind protection zones along main traffic lines

Application of plants in remediation of contaminated sites

The concern for environmental protection has existed since the time of first human civilization. As society develops, the chain of changes during the natural flow of processes in ecosystems has been supplemented by a new link - pollutants. They have an effect on all other members of the ecosystem (changes may be visible immediately or harder to spot), which leads to an extremely complex relationship with nature. The values of some parameters of pollutants reached an alarmingly high level. The tendency to reduce the risk of air, soil, water, plant, and animal pollution to a tolerable limit, which would salvage the environment and most importantly human health, became a global problem. Heavy metals as pollutants have been an interest of researchers for their conduct, especially in forest ecosystems, which has been expressed in the previous year's more than ever. With its numerous toxic effects, heavy metals are endangering the existence of plant species that live in already contaminated environments. This is all an argument regarding the fight of modern society that the emission of polluted materials gets reduced in order to avoid multiple negative effects, which can endanger the existence of living organisms in general, as an argument for the continuation of numerous researches that are conducted in this area. The monitoring of heavy metals is of significant importance because their toxicity and accumulations are vital for the ecosystem. Polluted soils can be reduced and they can restore their function using physical, chemical, and biological techniques. Physical and chemical methods are very expensive and cause mainly irreversible changes, thus destroying biological variety. The biological recovery of contaminated soil represents an efficient method of reducing health risks for both mankind and the ecosystem.  For this purpose, biological indicators are used. Numerous researches have led to improvements of the initial idea about using plants as a remediation of the environment and the removal of different contaminants from contaminated medias into promising technologies of environmental protection under the title "Phytoremediation". This technology consists of the reduction of concentrations of polluted materials in polluted soils, water, or air. Plants have the ability to store, degrade, or eliminate metals, pesticides, solutions, explosives, and crude oils. Its derivatives and various other contaminants form mediums that contain them. This paper especially considers methods of the possibility of the usage and application of plants in restoring soil contaminated by heavy metals as well as other pollutants

The potential of different lime tree (tilia spp) genotypes for phytoextraction of heavy metals

The research of heavy metals contents (Pb, Mn, Zn, Ni, Fe) in soil in the area of the National Park, Fruska gora", along the highway M21 shows lower values for manganese, zinc and iron than the maximum allowed quantity prescribed by law. For nickel and lead it shows higher values than maximum allowed quantity. The heavy metals contents in leaves of lime tree in 12 analyzed genotypes are far below average values in accordance with ECCE with all genotypes except genotype 7 for lead and genotypes 7 and 8 for iron. The results of analysis of variance components show that out of four components (locality, genotype, locality x genotype and error) only the interaction between locality and genotype does not contribute to variance. The contents of Pb, Mn, Fe and Zn in leaves is primarily influenced by genotype while Ni contents may be considered a consequence of locality. The selection of genotypes which is able to uptake greater quantities of heavy metals than other genotypes may serve as a solid basis for phytoextraction of heavy metals as a technology by which heavy metals, metalloids and radionuclides are extracted from environment through usage of suitable species and plant genotypes able to uptake and accumulate the given pollutants in parts of plant tissue

The potential of different plant species for nickel accumulation

Contamination of the environment with toxic heavy metals is a mayor environmental problem. Aimed to find effective and economical attractive solutions for environment cleaning, scientists intensively evolve various phytoremediation techniques. Nickel is one of the essential micronutrients for plants, animals, and humans, but toxic at elevated concentrations. Also, it belongs to a group of heavy metals. In respect of the fact that Ni uptake relies upon plant species and that some of them show hyperaccumulation effects, the aim of our study was to analyse Ni concentration in certain plant species affected by Ni contamination of air and surface soil. Ni deposition in the air was below 60 mu g/m(2)/month, while Ni content in the soil was between 42 and 150 mu g/g. Average Ni content in plants ranged from 0. 1 to 5. 0 mu g/g. Regardless the analysed locality, the highest Ni (7.1 mu g/g) was obtained with the hogweed, whereas the lowest (4.5 mu g/g) with the vines. Ambrosia artemis folia and Taraxum officinale accumulated the greatest amounts of Ni (10. 72 and 10. 61 mu g/g, respectively). It may be concluded that the analysed plant species exhibit various phytoremediation potential for Ni under the same ecological conditions

Relationships between leaf traits and morphological attributes in one-year bareroot Fraxinus anguslifolia Vahl. seedlings

Leaf traits were investigated as morphological attributes for quality estimation of one-year-old bareroot seedlings of Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl. Leaf traits (number of simple - NSL and compound leaves - NCL, leaf average - ALA and total area - TLA and leaf area ratio - LAR) show similar relations to morphological attributes, the strongest to shoot growth (height - HT, root collar diameter - DIA and shoot dry weight - SDW). Increases of seedling morphological attributes are strongly related to increases of ALA. Given to strong positive correlations with other morphological attributes, ALA (R = 0.68-0.88) and TLA (R = 0.46-0.92) are suitable for seedlings quality testing. TLA explained a larger proportion of the variation of SDW (R-2 = 0.85) and ALA explained a large proportion of the variation of DIA (R-2 = 0.81). Leaf traits can be considered as valuable morphological attributes of seedling quality, in addition to strong correlation with other morphological attributes

Leaf morphometric characteristics variability of different beech provenances in juvenile development stage

The taxonomic status of beech from the Balkan Peninsula is not yet clearly defined. There is no agreement among different authors about the morphological characteristics discriminating between the Balkan and European and/or Eastern beech. For most characteristics, the mean values are different but the ranges of variation overlap considerably. Provenance trial of beech established in Serbia, at the locality Debeli Lug, has provided an opportunity for research of interprovenance variability at the level of leaf morphometric characteristics in juvenile development stage. Research included 10 provenances originating from the Western Balkans (Serbian provenance 36 and 38; Croatian provenance 24 and 25; Bosnian provenance 30 and 32) and from Central Europe (German provenance 47 and 49; Austrian provenance 56 and Hungarian provenance 42), where following morphometric characteristics were analyzed: leaf length (Ll), leaf width (Lw), petiole lenght (Pl), leaf base width on 1 cm (Blw), number of veins - left (Vl), number of veins - right (Vr), distance between 3rd and 4th vein - left (Dv 3-4). The results of this research show existence of clear differentiation among provenances from the Western Balkan and from Central Europe, from the point of leaf dimensions, number of veins and leaf base width. [Projekat Ministarstva nauke Republike Srbije, br. TR31041: Establishment of Wood Plantations Intended for Afforestation of Serbia i br. 43007: Studying climate change and its influence on the environment: impacts, adaptation and mitigation

Leaf morphometric characteristics variability of different beech provenances in juvenile development stage

The taxonomic status of beech from the Balkan Peninsula is not yet clearly defined. There is no agreement among different authors about the morphological characteristics discriminating between the Balkan and European and/or Eastern beech. For most characteristics, the mean values are different but the ranges of variation overlap considerably. Provenance trial of beech established in Serbia, at the locality Debeli Lug, has provided an opportunity for research of inter-provenance variability at the level of leaf morphometric characteristics in juvenile development stage. Research included 10 provenances originating from the Western Balkans (Serbian provenance 36 and 38; Croatian provenance 24 and 25; Bosnian provenance 30 and 32) and from Central Europe (German provenance 47 and 49; Austrian provenance 56 and Hungarian provenance 42), where following morphometric characteristics were analyzed: leaf length (Ll), leaf width (Lw), petiole lenght (Pl), leaf base width on 1 cm (Blw), number of veins-left (Vl), number of veins - right (Vr), distance between 3(rd) and 4(th) vein - left (Dv 3-4). The results of this research show existence of clear differentiation among provenances from the Western Balkan and from Central Europe, from the point of leaf dimensions, number of veins and leaf base width

Tumor necrosis factor alpha and alpha-1 antitrypsin gene variants in Serbian pediatric arterial ischemic stroke patients

Etiologija arterijskog ishemijskog moždanog udara (AIS) kod dece je veoma kompleksna i razlikuje se od one kod odraslih. Iako je redak, moždani udar kod dece predstavlja značajan uzrok mortaliteta i morbiditeta. Sve je više podataka o ulozi genetičkih faktora, uključujući tu i medijatore inflamacije, u nastanku i ishodu moždanog udara. U ovoj studiji, odabrali smo da ispitamo ulogu polimorfizma -308G/A u genu za faktor nekroze tumora-alfa (eng. Tumor Necrosis Factor α -TNFα), kao i mutacija S i Z u genu za alfa1-antitripsin (AAT)u etiologiji moždanog udara kod dece. Polimorfizam -308G/A u genu za TNFα dovodi do povećanja koncentracije ovog proteina u plazmi, što bi moglo da doprinese patologiji moždanog udara. Pokazano je i da povišena koncentracija AAT može da predstavlja rizik za nastanak moždanog udara kod dece. S obzirom da mutacije S i Z u genu za AAT dovode do smanjenja koncentracije ovog proteina u plazmi, one bi mogle da imaju protektivnu ulogu kada je u pitanju moždani udar.Genske varijante TNFα (-308G/A) i AAT (S i Z) su ispitivane u grupi od 26 dece sa AIS i 100 odraslih osoba PCR/RFLP metodom.Nije nađena statistički značajna razlika u učestalosti -308G/A TNFα polimorfizma između pacijenata i kontrola, tako da u našoj grupi pacijenata TNFα najverovatnije nije imao značajnu ulogu u razvoju bolesti. Ni kod jednog pacijenta nije pronađena nijedna od ispitivanih mutacija u genu za AAT, što je bilo u skladu sa potencijalnom protektivnom ulogom ovih varijanti.AIS je multifaktorijalno oboljenje, u čijoj patologiji veliki broj gena ima -ulogu, tako da je potrebna dalja analiza zajedničkog delovanja većeg broja genskih varijanti da bi se rasvetlila njihova uloga kao genetičkih faktora rizika i njihovog uticaja na razvoj i ishod moždanog udara.The etiology of arterial ischemic stroke (AIS) in children is complex, and different from that in adults. Although rare, stroke in children is an important cause of mortality and morbidity. There is increasing evidence that genetic factors, including inflammation mediators, have a role in occurrence and outcome of stroke. We have chosen to assess the role of polymorphism -308G/A in the promoter of tumor necrosis factor α (TNFα) gene and S and Z mutations in alpha 1-antitrypsin (AAT) gene in the etiology of stroke in children. TNFα polymorphism affects plasma levels of this proinflamatory cytokine, and this could contribute to stroke pathology. It has been shown that increased AAT concentration may present a risk for AIS in children. Since S and Z mutations in AAT gene reduce its levels in plasma they could have a protective role in pediatric stroke. In this study twenty six children with AIS and 100 unrelated individuals from Serbian general population were investigated by PCR/RFLP for these gene variations. No statistically significant difference was observed between patients and general population in distribution of genotypes for -308G/A TNFα polymorphism, so its contributory role in the etiology of stroke was not evident in our group of patients. None of the tested AAT gene mutations were found in patients, which is in concordance with the proposed protective role of deficient AAT variants. AIS is a multifactorial disease, with many genes having a modest role in its pathophysiology, so further analyses of their combined effect are needed to elucidate genetic risk factors in the etiology and outcome of stroke in pediatric patients

ISTRAŽIVANJA KONCENTRACIJE CINKA (ZN) U DRVENASTIM I ZELJASTIM BILJKAMA NA PODRUČJU BEOGRADA

These studies are aimed at the determination of load of the plant ecosystems with the heavy metal (Zn) and the accumulation of it in this area, so that based on the results, if necessary, the appropriate protection measures of this higly-valued area can be appplied. The woody species lime tree and Austrian pine at the plots 1 and 2 in these studies show deficiency or are on the verge of the deficiency. Based on the results, heavy metal zinc is not the adverse factor in the natural protected area "Avala".Cilj ovih istraživanja usmeren je na to da se ustanovi opterećenost ekosistema biljaka teškim metalom (Zn) i njihova akumulacija na ovom području, kako bi se na osnovu dobijenih rezultata, ako je potrebno, mogle blagovremeno preduzeti odgovarajuće mere zaštite ovog visokovrednog područja. Drvenaste vrste lipa i crni bor na lokalitetu 1. i na lokalitetu 2. u ovim istraživanjima pokazuju deficit ili su na samoj granici deficita. Na osnovu svih dobijenih rezultata teški metal Cink ne predstavlja ugrožavajući činilac na području zaštićenog prirodnog dobra „Avala“

Concentrations of manganese and iron in some woody and herbs plants

Heavy metals are the substances that indicate environmental pollution. The plants polluted with heavy metals may endanger natural environment and cause health problems in humans. In our multidisciplinary research of the concentrations of pollutants in forest ecosystems and natural environment in Belgrade, we examined the contents of heavy metals essential for plants but harmful in greater concentrations on a long-term basis. The fact that heavy metals manganese and iron are accumulated in plants to the greatest extent focused our work on determination of the level of concentrations of Mn and Fe in the vegetative parts of 8 plant types on three locations on the Avala Mountain and one location in the centre of the city of Belgrade. The analyses of heavy metals contents in plants were performed by the method of flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. The examination of the existence of important differences between the average values was performed by implementation of Duncan’s test for the level of significance of 95%. The current contents of heavy metals in plants in the area of the protected natural resource Avala do not represent danger that would presently cause notable damage to forests but show the tendency of the increase of concentrations. Therefore, this issue should be constantly monitored