Comparison of chemical elements in Dipterocarpaceae and Euphorbiaceae from a tropical rain forest in Sarawak, Malaysia

Leaves of Dipterocarpaceae, a major canopy component tree, and Euphorbiaceae, predominantly occurring in the second layer, were analysed for 43 chemical elements. The comparison between the two families revealed significantly lower concentrations for the vast majority of elements in Dipterocarpaceae. All elements except Cu, Cs and Ce were found in higher concentrations in Euphorbiaceae. Furthermore, Euphorbiaceae showed a higher biological variation for most elements indicated through higher coefficient of variances (CV) values. The fingerprints revealed a general tendency in both families investigated to exhibit rather low element concentrations compared to the `reference plant' proposed by Markert (1996). Out of the 43 chemical elements only Ni showed remarkable positive deviations in both families, while the deviation of 6700% found for Co in Euphorbiaceae was striking. In Dipterocarpaceae the elements N, Co, Cu, Mn, Li, Cs, Mg and Th were found in concentrations similar to the `reference plant' while all other elements exhibited rather high negative deviations. In Euphorbiaceae more elements occurred similar to the `reference plant', however, the general tendency of negative deviations was obvious. Due to their specific environment, trees from tropical forest might have a rather different chemistry from trees in the Northern Hemisphere.