Relationship between air pollution and sulfur contents in leaves in Yokohama and Kawasaki cities

Abstract

Recently, withering of trees due to the waste gas exhausted from the factories and automobiles gives public a serious problem. The authors examined a relationship between air pollution and sulfur contents in leaves in Yokohama and Kawasaki cities analytically. Consequently, it was found that sulfur contents in leaves were almost proportional to the degree of air pollution by sulfur dioxide. Sulfur contents in leaves at the air pollution zone, i.e. coastal industrial zone, were found to be 0.39% for chamaecyparis obtusa, 0.43% for cryptomeria japonica and 0.50% for chamaecyparis pisifera, and they were three times, four times and two times as much as that of non-air pollution zone, respectively.