Background concentrations of the heavy metals Mn, Ni, Cd, Co, Zn, Cu, and Pb in the soils and plant monitors of the Boatin Reserve were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Surface soil layers of the Boatin Reserve were polluted with Cu, as its concentration exceeded both the national legal standards and the content of Cu in nonpolluted areas. | Turk J Bot 32 (2008) 155-160 © TÜB‹TAK Research Article Heavy Metal Pollution in the Boatin Reserve (Bulgaria) Georgi Borisov ANGELOV Institute of Botany, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Acad. G. Bonchev Str., bl. 23, 1113 Sofia - BULGARIA Received: Accepted: Abstract: Background concentrations of the heavy metals Mn, Ni, Cd, Co, Zn, Cu, and Pb in the soils and plant monitors of the Boatin Reserve were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). Surface soil layers of the Boatin Reserve were polluted with Cu, as its concentration exceeded both the national legal standards and the content of Cu in nonpolluted areas. Analysis of heavy metals accumulation in all studied plant monitors indicated that the content of Cu, Pb, and Zn exceeded their concentration in non-polluted areas. It may be concluded that the heavy metals Cu, Pb, and Zn are the main pollutants in the Boatin Reserve. Key Words: Heavy metals, pollution, soils, plant monitors, Boatin reserve Introduction Biological monitoring has been used for the control of anthropogenic pollution (Manning & Feder, 1980; Martin & Coughtrey, 1982). Biomonitoring has certain advantages in comparison to the direct measurement of industrial emission into the environment (Markert, 1996). Attention towards ecological monitoring of heavy metals has gradually increased, and investigations of their accumulation in soils and plants have been conducted (Dmuchovski & Bytnerowicz, 1995; Wenzel & Jokwer, 1999; Yilmaz & Zengin, 2004). Biomonitoring by means of mosses proved a useful tool for detecting pollution in natural, urban, and industrial areas (Vojtun, 1994; Bargagli et al., 2002; Aceto et al., 2003; Poikolainen et al. 2004; Culicov et al., 2005). In Bulgaria, several studies of heavy metals content in soils, waters, and plant monitors have been carried out as part of the Program for Biological Monitoring (Vodenicharov et al., 1989; Yurukova et al., 1991; Yurukova &
