Effect of Air Pollution on Biochemical and Anatomical Structure of Conocarpus lancifolius Leaves Growing in Jeddah - Saudi Arabia

In this study, which was conducted in different locations, including North, South, East and Western parts of Jeddah city. The sites include main and branch roads at each location (2 in each location). These sites named as North Jeddah (main road site 1, branch road site2), South Jeddah (site 3& 4), East Jeddah (site 5& 6) and West Jeddah (site 7 and 8). The control site was chosen from a garden far away from roads. Conocarpuslancifoliuswasusedas an indicator ofa vital andprocessorofcontaminationwith heavy metalsarisingfrom cars and other sources of pollution. three heavy metals were measured in plant and soil of all these sites, these are Cr, Pb and Ni. In addition, the pH and the electrical conductivity of soil as well as soil texture were estimated. Results revealed that, the amounts of heavy elements in soil were much more than the amount in plant. This may be due to some physiological functions in Conocarpus lancifolius that prevent the absorption of heavy metals from soil. In addition, pH value indicated the acidity of control and the alkalinity of other sites.