Cesium accumulation in native trees from the Brazilian Cerrado

Even considered not essential for plants, cesium may cycle within forest ecosystems. Taking into account the lack of knowledge on the distribution of this chemical element in Brazilian ecosystems, this work encompasses the unexpected cesium accumulation in native plant leaves from Cerradao, a Brazilian hotspot of world biodiversity. Some trees were Cs accumulators, achieving mass fractions in leaves 700 times higher (up to 12.7 mg kg−1) when compared to other Brazilian native tree leaves from the Atlantic Forest. In fact, such trace element accumulation in leaves was not previously noticed for Brazilian ecosystems despite the intra- and inter-species variability observed in Cerrado tree leaves.