Differences between Pinus pinea and Pinus pinaster as bioindicators of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Abstract

The potential of Univariate and Multivariate Analysis and specifically Principal Components Analysis (PCA), has been employed to assess the performance of pine needles as bioindicators of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and particularly emphasize the crucial importance of making a distinction between different pine species if more than one is sampled. Four sampling sessions were done in 29 sites and needles of two common pine species (Pinus pinaster Ait. in 19 sites and Pinus pinea L. in 12) were collected and analysed using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) and PCA. The results obtained indicated significant differences between species, attributed to their different morphology. The mean total PAH concentration of the P. pinaster needles are over two times higher than P. pinea’s. This difference is lower when the results are presented in lipid weight, but still statistically significant. Samples from the two sites with adjacent trees reinforce these conclusions, showing significant differences in terms of PAH mean concentration and aromatic ring patterns

An analytical multi-residue approach for the determination of semi-volatile organic pollutants in pine needles

“…The moisture content of the pine needles was determined using a procedure described previously [30]. In brief, 5 g of fresh needles were dried at 80 ºC until constant weight.…”

“…Gel permeation chromatography (GPC), a separation technique based on molecular size [27], is also used, individually [28] or combined with SPE [29]. Our workgroup has previous experience in the development and validation of analytical methodologies to evaluate the levels of PAHs, OCPs and PBDEs in pine needles [13,26,30]. The current study intends to establish an innovative multicomponent protocol to extract simultaneously four classes of more "traditional" compounds (BFRs, PCBs, PAHs and OCPs) and, for the first time, SMCs from pine needles.…”

Relationship between levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in pine needles and socio-geographic parameters

“…Ratola et al (2011) reported mean total PAH uptakes of 126 to 1666 ng/g (dw) in P. pinaster needles and 64 to 813 ng/g (dw) in P.…”

“…In particular, pine needles of several species yielded good performances in biomonitoring studies of PAHs worldwide, due to their unique morphology and waxy content, leading to a successful uptake of semi-volatile organic compounds Ratola et al, 2010a;Ratola et al, 2010b;Ratola et al, 2011;Simonich and Hites, 1995). A useful characteristic of pine needles is that it is relatively easy to establish their age.…”

“…Regarding the seasonal variation, a decreasing tendency in the mean total PAH concentrations can be observed from winter to summer months (834 to 596 ng/g (dw)) and then increasing from summer to autumn (to 651 ng/g (dw)) (Figures 3c and d and Ratola et al, 2011). This is given by the differences in the slopes of the respective seasons in the figures -the lower the slope, the higher the variation -and can be explained by the decrease of emitting sources (such as domestic heating and road traffic) in the warmer months, associated with an enhanced photochemical activity (Alfani et al, 2005;Amigo et al, 2011;Lehndorff and Schwark, 2009a).…”