Evaluation of Heavy Metal Accumulations in Plant Organs and Soil White Birch (Betula verrucosa Ehrh.) Plantation

Abstract

birch barks as a biomonitoring tool may be useful, particularly in monitoring increases in Cd concentrations in urban settings. Additionally, to maximize heavy metal retention, it is advised to use hyperaccumulator plant combinations according to local climatic conditions.

Antioxidant activities in relation to the transport of heavy metals from the soil to different parts of Betula pendula (Roth.)

“…Last research has shown that B. pendula has developed traits, which help to survive [ 48 ]. For this reason, it is used as a remedial plant [ 49 – 51 ], which makes it more and more widespread and conducive to use in biomonitoring [ 1 , 51 , 52 ]. Therefore, it becomes important to determine the influence of the soil species, as well as other physicochemical properties of the soil on the possibility of accumulation of heavy metals.…”

“…Heavy metals present in the environment can be of natural origin (weathering of rocks, volcanic eruptions) or anthropogenic. In the environment, they are a natural component of the earth's crust; however, diverse types of anthropogenic activity lead to disturbance in geochemical cycles, resulting in the accumulation of metal in relation to background levels [ 1 – 3 ]. Soil heavy metal pollution can come from a variety of sources, both natural sources and anthropogenic ones such as industry, fertilization, etc.…”

“…In the assessment of heavy metal interactions, useful tools for determining both soil contamination and also the bioavailability of metals for the plant as well as transport and accumulation are a series of quite extensively developed and discussed indicators [ 1 , 5 , 13 , 14 ]. Among the wide range of indicators, one can choose those that fully characterise the geochemical cycle, indicating the most important elements of it prone to accumulation [ 14 ].…”

“…Of great importance when choosing the right species for research is resistance to pollution, the popularity of the species, as well as the specificity of the organs selected for the experiment [ 5 , 17 ]. An example of a tree with the above characteristics is birch Betula pendula , the use of which in research on the content of heavy metals has already been described in many works in the literature [ 1 , 5 , 15 , 16 , 18 ]. As indicated by Petrushkevych and Korshykov [ 18 ], research has focused mainly on roots, stems or leaves.…”