Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in peat and plants from selected peat‐bogs in the north‐east of Poland

Abstract

The concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) were analyzed in samples of peat and of two plant species (Pinus sylvestris and Ledum palustre) overgrowing peat‐bogs in the north‐east of Poland. Peat samples were collected from different depths according to the stratigraphic profile of the peat bogs. The total concentrations of the 16 anthropogenic PAHs (15 from the US EPA list and benzo[e]pyrene) in all peat samples were between 70 and 439 ng g—1. The concentration for the same compounds in pine needles (Pinus sylvestris) and Dutch Myrthe leaves (Ledum palustre) varied between 194 and 1039 ng g—1. A noticeably high fluorene concentration in Dutch Myrthe leaves was found at some sites. In all peat samples 3‐ring compounds were predominant (55 to 319 ng g—1). There were less 4‐ring PAHs (15 to 110 ng g—1) and the least common PAHs were 5‐ring and 6‐ring compounds (0 to 81 ng g—1 for both groups). In some peat samples, the perylene concentration largely exceeds of the total concentration of all the other PAHs investigated. The high content of perylene in bottom layers could result from the processes of perylene sorption from water during peat‐bog formation or from biogenic formation of perylene.

Biomonitoring of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons Contamination in the Island of Crete Using Pine Needles

“…The lipid-rich cuticle and pore structure of pine needles surfaces give them a high affinity for vapour phase semi-volatile organic compounds and can intercept particles. The occurrence of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), a ubiquitous class of pollutants with established carcinogenic and mutagenic properties (IARC 1991), in needles of some pine species was studied from remote to densely populated and industrialised sites of several countries such as the UK (Tremolada et al 1996), the USA (Hwang et al 2003;Hwang and Wade 2008), China (Liu et al 2006), Germany (Lehndorff and Schwark 2004;Wenzel et al 1997), Italy (Librando et al 2002;Piccardo et al 2005), Portugal and Spain (Ratola et al 2006(Ratola et al , 2009, Poland (Malawska et al 2002), Mexico and Korea (Hwang et al 2003), Argentina (Wenzel et al 1997), Czech Republic (Holoubek et al 2000) or Russia (Gorshkov 2008).…”

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

“…The most used extraction technique reported in literature is Soxhlet or Soxtec [14][15][16] extraction, which offers generally good recoveries, but requires rather large amounts of solvents and is time demanding. Ultrasonic solvent extraction (USE) [14,17,18] and ultrasonic assisted enzymatic digestion (USAED) [19] have been employed as an alternative, using smaller amounts of solvent much shorter extraction times.…”

Distribution and sources of PAHs using three pine species along the Ebro River

“…Still, the standard deviation ranges are extremely wide, reflecting the dispersion of results, but in some cases these PAH ratios can be a good indication. (2008), Hwang et al (2003), Kylin (1994), Lang et al (2000), Lehndorff and Schwark (2004), Liu et al (2006), Malawska et al (2002), Migaszewski (1999), Migaszewski et al (2002), Piccardo et al (2005), Ratola et al (2009), Schröter-Kermani et al (2006, Simonich and Hites (1995), Tremolada et al (1996), Wagrowski and Hites (1997), Weißflog and Wenzel (1997), Wenzel et al (1997) …”

“…Several plant species have been used as biomonitors, such as mosses , lichens (Riga Karandinos and Karandinos 1998;Guidotti et al 2003;Blasco et al 2006Blasco et al , 2007Blasco et al , 2008Augusto et al 2009a, b;Shukla and Upreti 2009) or tree leaves (Prajapati and Triphati 2008). Pine needles are also a matrix with proven accumulative properties towards a wide spectrum of pollutants and are increasingly becoming an appropriate biomonitor of airborne PAHs (Simonich and Hites 1995;Tremolada et al 1996;Jacob et al 1997;Wenzel et al 1997;Migaszewski 1999;Holoubek et al 2000;Lang et al 2000;Malawska et al 2002;Hwang et al 2003;Lehndorff and Schwark 2004;Piccardo et al 2005;Liu et al 2006;Schröter-Kermani et al 2006;Hwang and Wade 2008;Lehndorff and Schwark 2009a, b;Ratola et al 2009;Augusto et al 2010;Ratola et al 2010).…”