AIR-POLLUTION MONITORING AT THE ENVIRONMENTAL-SPECIMEN-BANK-OF-GERMANY - SPRUCE AND PINE SHOOTS AS BIOINDICATORS

An investigation has been carried out to study the pattern of heavy me tal abundance in buds, needles, twigs and cones from single trees and to compare the results with the integrated (composite, homogenized) ES B material of the same origin. It has been evident that (i) pine and s pruce shoots are comparable in terms of the pattern of trace element a bundance with the exception of Ni, Ba, Sr and Pb, (ii) twigs contribut e substantially to the overall concentration of the homogeneous materi al, and (iii) heavy metal concentrations are remarkably different in s amples from remote and industrialized sampling sites. To distinguish t he influence of soil at different sampling sites on the overall concen tration levels, an extensive investigation using chemometrical data ev aluation has still to be carried out.