Comparison of chemical elements in Dipterocarpaceae and Euphorbiaceae froma tropical rain forest in Sarawak, Malaysia

Leaves of Dipterocarpaceae, a major canopy component tree, and Euphorbiacea e, predominantly occurring in the second layer, were analysed for 43 chemic al elements. The comparison between the two families revealed significantly lower concentrations for the vast majority of elements in Dipterocarpaceae . All elements except Cu, Cs and Ce were found in higher concentrations in Euphorbiaceae. Furthermore, Euphorbiaceae showed a higher biological variat ion for most elements indicated through higher coefficient of variances (CV ) values. The fingerprints revealed a general tendency in both families inv estigated to exhibit rather low element concentrations compared to the 'ref erence plant' proposed by Markert (1996). Out of the 43 chemical elements o nly Ni showed remarkable positive deviations in both families, while the de viation of 6700% found for Co in Euphorbiaceae was striking. In Dipterocarp aceae the elements N, Co, Cu, Mn, Li, Cs, Mg and Th were found in concentra tions similar to the 'reference plant' while all other elements exhibited r ather high negative deviations. In Euphorbiaceae more elements occurred sim ilar to the 'reference plant', however, the general tendency of negative de viations was obvious. Due to their specific environment, trees from tropica l forest might have a rather different chemistry from trees in the Northern Hemisphere. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.