Page 177 - 00. Complete Version - Progress Report IPEN 2014-2016

Nuclear Science and Technology | Progress Report 177

Br, Ca, Co, Cr, Rb, Sb and Sc) and micronutri- quire a specialist in taxonomy.
ents (Ca, Fe, K, Na, Se and Zn) by instrumental
neutron activation analysis technique (INAA) This study focused on the evaluation of ele-
and toxic metals (Cd, Hg, Ni and Pb) by Atom- ment pollutants in two arboreal species, Sibi-
ic Absorption Spectrometry (CV AAS and GF piruna (Poincianella pluviosa) and Tipuana
AAS). In order to verify if they can be used as (Tipuana tipu, Kuntze) abundant and domi-
a biomonitor for metal contamination in the nant in urban areas of São Paulo city, using
regions studied and others, the concentration the instrumental neutron activation analysis
results for the toxic metals and trace elements (INAA) and graphite furnace atomic absorp-
in the sea urchin species tissues are being in- tion spectrometry (GF AAS) methods.
vestigated. This project also aims to contrib-
ute with values for micro and macronutrient Results obtained indicated that element con-
concentrations for these organisms, due to the centrations in the barks depend on the tree
lack of information in the literature. (Partner- species. Higher element concentrations ob-
ship: Instituto de Ciências Biomédicas da Uni- tained for Tipuana rather than those for Sibi-
versidade de São Paulo; Universidade Estad- piruna can be attributed to the characteristics
ual Paulista Júlio de Mesquita Filho, Campus of the bark surface. The Tipuana bark surface
do Litoral Paulista; Financial support: CNPq - is porous, roughened and fissured while Sibi-
PROANTAR) piruna presents barks in squamous form. Fig
21 shows trunk bark images of the Sibipiru-
Biomonitoring of chemical element na and Tipuana tree species. The entrapment
pollutants in Tree barks and accumulation of elements in tree barks

depends on structure porosity.
Investigations on aerial pollution and its ef-
fects on public health have become important
in programs related to the reduction of pollut-
ant levels in many cities of the world. São Pau-
lo city is no exception. The use of a biomonitor
to evaluate pollution levels should be consid-
ered as an additional support to conventional
instrumentation currently in use by the gov-
ernmental agency, the Environmental Com-
pany of São Paulo State (CETESB) due to the
extension of São Paulo city, as well as, to seri-
Fig 21
ous pollution problems. Thus, in order to de-
velop a biomonitoring program, it is very rel-
evant to choose a suitable monitor. Besides, to obtain a representative sample, it
is relevant to collect barks around the trunk as
The applicability of tree barks for air monitor- well as to take the same thickness of outer lay-
ing purposes is increasing due to its simplici- er for the analysis since there are differences
ty of sampling without causing damage to the between outer and inner layer element con-
tree, easier sample treatment and tree species centrations. Different layers of tree bark indi-
identification when compared with other spe- cated that most of the element concentrations
cies such as lichens or mosses that often re- in the outer layer are higher than those found