Title: Heavy metal accessions to the forest floor of an urban forest reserve in Kuala Lumpur city, Malaysia
Abstract: A study was carried out to determine the total accessions of Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn in bulk precipitation, throughfall, stemflow, and litterfall at a secondary forest in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This study shows that the urban environment of Kuala Lumpur contributes a considerable amount of heavy metals to the atmosphere and forest floor as reflected by the high metal contents in bulk precipitation, throughfall and stemflow. The forest canopy filters and retains the metals, which are subsequently transferred to the soil. The concentrations of the metals in precipitation, throughfall and litterfall were in the order ZnPb > Cu > Cd. As a result of interaction between the atmosphere and the forest canopy, the net fluxes of heavy metals to the forest floor were 156.4, 121.7, 28.2 and 10.4 g · ha−1 · week−1 for Zn, Pb, Cu and Cd, respectively. All the metals studied showed net retention at the canopy with Pb as the most retained metal followed by Zn, Cu and Cd. The aqueous pathways contributed more to the net flux of heavy metals (except for Zn) than litterfall.
Publication Year: 1993
Publication Date: 1993-01-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 1
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