Assessment of Metal Levels in Biotic and Abiotic Materials from Giresun Forests

Abstract

The study investigated the metal levels in biotic and abiotic materials from Giresun forests. While soil and water samples were selected as abiotic materials, leaves and moss were selected as biotic materials in forest. These selected materials were sampled from six stations. All samples were analyzed three times for arsenic, iron, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead and zinc by ICP-OES. A logarithmic transformation was done on the data to improve normality. One way ANOVA and Duncan’s multiple range tests were performed to test the differences among metal levels of stations. The differences among metal levels in stations were statistically significant (p<0.05). Metal levels from forests were assessed for environmental health.