INFLUENCE OF MARINE SALTS ON THE LOCALIZATION AND ACCUMULATION OF SURFACTANT IN THE NEEDLES OF PINUS-HALEPENSIS MILL

To simulate the conditions of polluted sea sprays during storms, trees were exposed to a short pollution episode. Two-year-old pines (Pinus halepensis Mill) were dipped for a short time in a water or saline sol ution of [S-35] linear dodecyl benzene sulfonate. The surfactant was a bsorbed by plants to a greater extent in synthetic sea water than in d istilled water. This greater absorption raised the level of pollution in plants growing close to the seashore. The surfactant accumulated ma inly in the epicuticular wax of the needles, and this accumulation was two times higher when the pollutant was supplied in a saline solution than in distilled water. Rapid alterations to the epicuticular wax st ructure were confirmed by scanning electron microscopy.