Impact of metallurgical activities on the content of trace elements in the spatial soil and plant parts of Rubus fruticosus L.

Abstract

The concentrations of the trace elements (TEs), Cu, Zn, Pb, As, Cd, Ni, were determined in parts of Rubus fruticosus L. and in topsoil, collected from eight different locations around the copper smelter in Bor, Serbia. Extremely high concentrations of Cu were determined in the soil and in R. fruticosus L., and for arsenic at some locations. The enrichment factors for TEs in soil showed enrichment with Cu, Zn, Pb, and As among which extremely high values were determined for Cu (EFsoil = 8.5-126.1) and As (EFsoil = 6.6-44.4). The enrichment factors for the parts of R. fruticosus L. showed enrichment with all TEs, except for nickel. The most extreme enrichment was found to occur in roots and stems for Cu (EFplant = 56.2 and 51.1) and leaves for Pb (EFplant = 45.68). The mean values of the three ratios of concentrations between plant parts for all TEs indicated pollution via the atmosphere while leaves appeared to be the best indicators for this kind of pollution. Numerous and very strong Pearson's correlations between TEs in the R. fruticosus L. parts confirmed these results. Principal Component Analysis showed that the major pollution source is the copper smelter that contaminates vegetation through soil and air.

Bioaccumulation of HMW PAHs in the roots of wild blackberry from the Bor region (Serbia): Phytoremediation and biomonitoring aspects

“…Site G was often used as a control site in various biomonitoring studies in the Bor region (Alagić et al, 2015b;Dimitrijevic et al, 2016;Tošić et al, 2015), as well as in the study of Nujkić et al (2016). It should be mentioned here that the study of Nujkić et al (2016) included 3 sampling sites more than the present study, because at these sites the presence of plants was in a quantity that was sufficient only for heavy metal evaluation. The samples that were collected from the site D were taken from the bushes that grow in grassland at the village entrance, while the samples from the site G were collected from the forest surrounding the village.…”

“…The obtained results revealed that wild blackberry can tolerate extremely high metal concentrations in its tissues, especially in root tissue. The concentrations of heavy metals in blackberry roots that were collected from different locations in Bor's municipality reached up to: 961 mg/kg for Cu, 253 mg/kg for Zn, 67.95 mg/kg for Pb, 32.025 mg/kg for As, 3.605 mg/kg for Cd, and 27.515 mg/kg for Ni which was in the range or much above phytotoxicity thresholds for various plant tissues (Nujkić et al, 2016). Except for Ni, the highest elemental concentrations were detected in root samples from the urban/ industrial zone which pointed to a considerable level of soil pollution in this zone.…”

“…Its roots can penetrate deep into the ground (1 m or more). This plant is often considered as a bushy weed, which has a relatively high biomass and rapid growth (Nujkić et al, 2016). It is well known that described plant features represent the key prerequisites for an effective phytoremediation or biomonitoring.…”

“…At the first place, wild blackberry was investigated in the study of Nujkić et al (2016) in order to evaluate the influence of mining and metallurgical activities on the content of heavy metal(oid)s such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd), and nickel (Ni) in blackberry organs. The obtained results revealed that wild blackberry can tolerate extremely high metal concentrations in its tissues, especially in root tissue.…”

“…Except for Ni, the highest elemental concentrations were detected in root samples from the urban/ industrial zone which pointed to a considerable level of soil pollution in this zone. The results of Nujkić et al (2016) also pointed that the investigated plant species can be very helpful in the remediation of areas polluted by heavy metals and in particular in phytostabilization, which is in accordance with several other studies that were conducted in different polluted regions in the World (Marques et al, 2009;Yoon et al, 2006). However, to our best knowledge, this plant species was not investigated in regard to organic contaminants such as PAHs and in parallel with the heavy metal assessment, the evaluation of HMW PAHs has been performed too.…”