Monitoring of heavy metals uptake and allocation in Pinus sylvestris organs in alkalised soil

Abstract

The concentration of heavy metals in soil and in Scots pine (Pinus sylvestris) organs growing on a pH gradient from 4.0 to 7.9 of soil at different distances from a cement plant was monitored. Emission for over 40 years of alkaline dust (pH 12.3-12.6) into the atmosphere in North Estonia had resulted in alkalisation and elevated concentration of total heavy metals in upper layers of the soil (0-30 cm), which was considerable even 10 years after the dust pollution stopped. Monitoring showed that the accumulation and allocation of heavy metals varied between the stem, shoots and needles and differed from the trees in the unpolluted area, depending more on the mobility of elements and the pH than element concentrations in the alkaline soil. A strong negative correlation was found between the soil pH and Mn, Zn and Cd concentrations in different tree organs. Compared to the unpolluted area, Pb was present in relatively higher concentrations in all organs but Cr, Fe and Cu in needles and shoots. The concentrations of Mn and Cd were much lower than control in all organs of trees in alkalised soil. The height increment and density of needles on shoots were predominantly in negative correlation with the pH of soil.

Heavy metal accumulation affects growth of Scots pine by causing oxidative damage

“…Wahsha et al (2012) found that plant concentrations of Cu, Pb, Zn, and Fe were higher, and Cr and Ni were similar to the results of our study. Finally, Cr, Pb, and Fe were lower, Zn was higher, and Cu similar to observations by Ots and Mandre (2012).…”

Biogeochemistry of uranium in the soil-plant and water-plant systems in an old uranium mine

“…However, the accumulation of elements in plant tissues is a dynamic and complex process, which is conjugated with other biochemical and metabolic processes occurring in the plant (Giertych et al, 1997). The transport of elements within plant tissues and their translocation and concentration in different organs are influenced significantly by many factors including environmental conditions (e.g., soil pH and other edaphic properties, pollution level) (Giertych et al, 1997;Ots and Mandre, 2012) and processes intrinsic to the plant, like the selective removal and exchange of nutrients from xylem sap (Finér and Kaunisto, 2000;Monoshima and Bondietti, 1990), mobility and solubility of elements and competition by the same carrier sites in absorption mechanisms (Ots and Mandre, 2012), and synergetic or antagonistic interactions between elements (Kabata-Pendias, 2011).…”

Common plants as alternative analytical tools to monitor heavy metals in soil

“…Other authors focused their attention on heavy metals accumulation by higher plants in order to study the urban pollution [17-20]. …”