Phytoremediation Potential ofPhragmites australisin Hokersar Wetland - A Ramsar Site of Kashmir Himalaya

Abstract

Heavy metals are an important class of pollutants with both lethal and sublethal effects on organisms. Wetlands are cheap natural alternatives for removal of heavy metals from soils; however, wetland plants vary greatly in their degree of metal uptake. Hokersar wetland, a Ramsar site of Kashmir Himalaya, India is a game reserve of international importance that provides suitable habitat for resident birds and an excellent stopover point for migratory birds visiting from Palaearctic breeding grounds in Central Asia, China, N-Europe and Siberia. The toxicity of chronic dietary metal exposure in birds may have adverse reproductive effects which include decreased egg production, decreased hatchability, and increased hatchling mortality. Thus, the present study aimed to assess the heavy metal sequestration capability of one of the most common wetland plant species Phragmites australis in Hokersar wetland. The accumulation of the different elements was in order of Al > Mn > Ba > Zn > Cu > Pb > Mo > Co > Cr > Cd > Ni. Translocation factor, i.e. ratio of shoot to root metal concentration revealed that metals were largely retained in the roots of P. australis, thus reducing the supply of metals to avifauna and preventing their bio-accumulation.

Assessment of <i>In-Situ</i> Natural Dendroremediation Capability of <i>Rhizophora racemosa</i> in a Heavy Metal Polluted Mangrove Forest, Rivers State, Nigeria

“…These kinds of plants are simply referred to as hyperaccumulators, because they accumulate appreciable quantities of metal in parts of their tissues regardless of the concentration of metal in the soil, water or other surrounding contaminated media (Prasad and Freitas, 2003). Each mean value is the overall mean of ten experimental replications per tree Means with the different superscripts in the same column are significantly different (p < 0.05) Furthermore, similar observations from studies on some mangrove species where root had more heavy metals bio-concentration in comparison to the stem and other above-ground parts have also been made for Avicennia alba (Thomas and Ferdinandez, 1997), Rhizophora mucronata (Pahalawattaarachchi et al, 2009), Avicennia marina (Nirmal Kumar et al, 2011), Bruguiera sexangula and Ceriops decandra (Gupta and Chakrabarti, 2013), Avicennia marina (Almahasheer et al, 2014), Phragmites australis in a wetland vegetation (Ahmad et al, 2014) and recently also in Rhizophora racemosa (Erakhrumen, 2014). This comparatively higher bio-concentration level of heavy metals in the root might be as a result of low mobility and bioavailability of some heavy metals to natural phytoextraction process (Komárek et al, 2007) along the stem towards the crown.…”

Phytoremedial Potential ofTypha latifolia,Eichornia crassipesandMonochoria hastatafound in Contaminated Water Bodies Across Ranchi City (India)

“…Cr was more in root portion than shoot in spite of the concentration being very low in water. It can be conceded that roots of all the three species do show high retention of heavy metals as well as trace elements in their root structure thus they can prevent bioaccumulation in higher trophic level (Ahmad et al 2014).…”

How natural capital delivers ecosystem services: A typology derived from a systematic review

“…large trees for carbon storage, or pollution-tolerant reeds for water quality regulation) can be more productive or provide a better service (e.g. Ahmad et al, 2014;Cavanaugh et al, 2014). In contrast, diversity is rarely mentioned for air quality regulation, and water flow regulation is the only service for which no biological diversity attributes are studied in the literature reviewed.…”