Assessing Bioavailability of Soil Trace Elements

On the possible role of macrofungi in the biogeochemical fate of uranium in polluted forest soils

“…As pointed out by Komárek et al [35], the vast majority of geomycological field studies lack data concerning the chemical fractionation of metals in soils: as different metal phases are associated with different soil fractions from which they might be taken up by macrofungi, the sole knowledge of total metal contents could be insufficient. However, according to Hooda [64], fractionation schemes seldom serve any purpose for assessing metal bioavailability (for plants), largely because plant uptake generally correlates only with that extracted in the first step of any sequential extraction procedure, which often includes their most labile fraction.…”

Assessment of trace element pollution and its environmental risk to freshwater sediments influenced by anthropogenic contributions: The case study of Alqueva reservoir (Guadiana Basin)

“…Hence, despite the use of total trace element content as a criterion to assess their possible risk to the aquatic ecosystem, it provides insufficient information about the mobility, bioavailability and consequently toxicity, of these hazardous substances to the aquatic and human populations (Gu et al, 2014;Hooda, 2010;Sundaray et al, 2011). Accordingly, the speciation of metals in sediments is therefore a critical factor in assessing their potential environmental impacts (Peng et al, 2004) and can be determined with the use of sequential extraction procedures.…”

Heavy metal content and distribution in surface sediments of the Seyhan River, Turkey

“…Metals may exist in several different forms, including soluble and exchangeable, as an amorphous material (Fe/Mn oxides), bound to organic matter and sulfides, or bound to mineral lattices (residual) (Gomez-Ariza et al,1999;Yu et al, 2001). Determination of the total metal concentration in sediments is inadequate to fully understand bioavailability, mobility, and toxicity of metals, but is generally useful as an indicator of contamination in aquatic environments (Hooda, 2010). Recent studies have utilized sequential extraction to understand the chemical associations with specific sedimentary phases and sources of metals in sediments (Yang et al, 2009;Naji et al, 2010).…”