Concentration of PAHs in forest ecosystems of the protected natural resource "Avala"

Abstract

Belgrade is one of the greenest capitals in Europe. The protected natural area, "Avala" (i.e. a separate part of unit that is declared as a landscape of outstanding features) is located on the territory of Belgrade and attracts the attention of all profiles of researchers. It should be noted also that the area of Avala was bombed in 1999 and the Avala Tower was destroyed. Researches aiming to determine the pollutant loading of the area are of particular importance. The aim of this research is to determine the content of 16 types of PAHs in three different locations on Avala sites 1, 2 and 3, with sampling of soil at two different depths (0-10 cm and 10-20 cm). One of the most frequent streets in downtown Belgrade (locality 4) was chosen as control site. On the basis of the results, it can be concluded that the soil of Avala is well preserved, which is in line with the declaration that Avala is a protected area.