Poster: Phytoremediation
Abs #
980: Tolerate or accumulate? Plant responses under stressed environments.
KEY WORDS: phytoremediation, accumulation, lead, arsenic, metal stress, atomic adsorption spectrometry, Eleocharis macrostachya, Eleocharis parishii, Typha sp.
Stressed environments resulting from mining production involve several changes on landscape, wildlife and human health. The natural abilities of native plants to grow in these environments open the possibility to use them to restore man-modified environments.
In this study, the concentration of lead and arsenic was evaluated in two environments altered by mining activities in the soil associated to the roots (rizosphere), the water, and the plant organs (root, stem and leaves), for one year period. Three species were chosen: Eleocharis macrostachya, E. Parishii and Typha sp.
The results show that differences in lead and arsenic concentration during the year were not significant in species (Eleocharis macrostachya pAs=0.625 y pPb=0.545; E. Parishii pAs=0.718 y pPb=0.639 and Typha sp. pAs=0.503 y pPb=0.229), and only the concentration of As was different from one site to another.
In general terms, the pattern observed in the samples was: highest concentration of these metals was found in soil, then in roots, and a minimum rate in shoot/leaves. The differences between these samples can provide an idea about their potential as environmental cleaners.
The high concentrations of lead and arsenic in the plant tissues of the Eleocharis species show their capacity to accumulate these metals, besides Typha sp., that seems to be tolerant to metal stress.
