Ecological and geochemical assessment of woody vegetation along the highways of Moscow

The accumulation of heavy metals (HM) in the leaves of woody plants has been studied on busy municipal highways in North-Eastern (NEAD) and South-Western (SWAD) administrative districts of Moscow. Background contents and their exceeding values for Fe, Sr, Ba, Cr, Cu, Mn, Zn, Bi, Ni, Pb were determined. The study showed that among the dominant deciduous tree species, hanging birch, Norway maple, and small-leaved linden have a high ability to accumulate heavy metals, which are characterized by the accumulation of such elements as Zn, Mn, Sr. According to content of HM in the leaves for the studied territories, an acceptable category of pollution and a greater contribution of the technogenic component is observed in SWAD in comparison with NEAD