Abstract
Heavy metal pollution in roadside soil may harm humans, animals, plants, and local ecosystems. This study aimed to explore the sources and potential ecological risks of heavy metals in soils of roadside trees under different land uses, using soil samples collected from 136 roads across 16 administrative districts in Shanghai. The contents, pollution characteristics, potential ecological risks, and sources of seven heavy metals were analyzed, including Cr, Ni, Cd, Pb, As, Cu, and Zn. Results showed that (1) land use patterns affected the heavy metal contents, with industrial and construction areas showing higher contents while agricultural and forestry areas lower; (2) the ranking of heavy metal pollution levels was Cd > As > Pb > Cu > Ni > Cr > Zn. Cd exhibited the highest potential ecological risk, falling within the moderate to considerable potential ecological risk interval; (3) the sources of Cu, Zn, Cr, Ni, Cd, and Pb were associated with traffic emissions, whereas As had independent other sources and Pb in industrial and construction areas was also influenced by industrial emissions. These results provide valuable references on the control of heavy metal pollutants and the management of land uses in megacities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data availability
All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this published article. Additional information is freely available from the corresponding author.
References
Alsanad, A., & Alolayan, M. (2020). Heavy metals in road-deposited sediments and pollution indice for different land activities. Environmental Nanotechnology Monitoring Management, 14, 100374. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enmm.2020.100374
Amir, M., Bhuiyan, M., Karmaker, S., Bodrud-Doza, M., & Saha, B. B. (2020). Enrichment, sources and ecological risk mapping of heavy metals in agricultural soils of Dhaka district employing SOM, PMF and GIS methods. Chemosphere, 263, 128339. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2020.128339
Anahi, A., Francisco, B., Avto, G., & Felipe, G. (2021). Health risk of heavy metals in street dust. Frontiers in Bioscience (Landmark edition), 26, 327–345. https://doi.org/10.2741/4896
Anaman, R., Peng, C., Jiang, Z., Liu, X., Zhou, Z., Guo, Z., & Xiao, X. (2022). Identifying sources and transport routes of heavy metals in soil with different land uses around a smelting site by GIS based PCA and PMF. Science of The Total Environment, 823, 153759. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153759
Bakht, F., Khan, S., Muhammad, S., & Khan, M. A. (2022). Heavy metal bioavailability in the earthworm-assisted soils of different land types of Pakistan. Arabian Journal of Geosciences, 15, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12517-022-09512-6
Björn, K., & Gerd, W. (2012). Heavy metal pattern and solute concentration in soils along the oldest highway of the world - The AVUS Autobahn. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 184, 6469–6481. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2433-8
Calace, N., Caliandro, L., Petronio, B. M., Pietrantonio, M., Pietroletti, M., & Trancalini, V. (2012). Distribution of Pb, Cu, Ni and Zn in urban soils in Rome city (Italy): Effect of vehicles. Environmental Chemistry, 9, 69–76. https://doi.org/10.1071/EN11066
Cannon, W. F., & Horton, J. D. (2009). Soil geochemical signature of urbanization and industrialization – Chicago, Illinois, USA. Applied Geochemistry, 24, 1590–1601. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeochem.2009.04.023
Chen, J. L., Li, R. Y., Xie, X. J., Wang, H., & Yang, Z. (2021). Distribution characteristics and pollution evaluation of heavy metals in greenbelt soils of Nanjing city. Huan jing ke xue, 42, 909–916. https://doi.org/10.13227/j.hjkx.202005203
Cong, L., Zhou, S., Niyogi, D., Wu, Y., Yan, G., Dai, L., Liu, S., Zhang, Z., & Hu, Y. (2022). Concentrations and isotopic analysis for the sources and transfer of lead in an urban atmosphere-plant-soil system. Journal of Environmental Management, 311, 114771. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2022.114771
Gao, W., Bai, Z., & Yu, Q. (2015). Evaluation of soil heavy metal pollution in coal mine industrial site. China Mining Magazine, 24, 6.
Ghosh, S., Bakshi, M., Kumar, A., Ramanathan, A. L., Biswas, J. K., Bhattacharyya, S., Chaudhuri, P., Shaheen, S. M., & Rinklebe, J. (2018). Assessing the potential ecological risk of Co, Cr, Cu, Fe and Zn in the sediments of Hooghly-Matla estuarine system, India. Environmental Geochemistry, 41, 53–70. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-018-0119-7
Hakanson, L. (1980). An ecological risk index for aquatic pollution control. A sedimentological approach. Water Research, 14, 975–1001. https://doi.org/10.1016/0043-1354(80)90143-8
Islam, M. S., Ahmed, M. K., Al-Mamun, M. H., & Islam, S. (2019). Sources and ecological risks of heavy metals in soils under different land uses in Bangladesh. Pedosphere, 29(5), 665–675. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1002-0160(17)60394-1
Islam, M. S., Ismail, Z., Jamal, M. H., Ibrahim, Z., Jumain, M., Islam, A. R. M. T., Kabir, M. H., Islam, S. M. A., Ahmed, S., & Phoungthong, K. (2022). Heavy metals from different land use soil in the capital of ancient Pundranagar, Bangladesh: A preliminary study for ecological risk assessment. Chemistry and Ecology, 38, 720–743. https://doi.org/10.1080/02757540.2022.2100360
Kang, Y., Haizhen, W., Zheng, L., Jiahang, Z., HuiZhen, F., Laosheng, W., & Jianming, X. (2022). Heavy metal pollution in the soil of contaminated sites in China: Research status and pollution assessment over the past two decades. Journal of Cleaner Production, 373. https://doi.org/10.1016/J.JCLEPRO.2022.133780
Keydoszius, J. R., Cox, S. K., Haque, M. B., Mikhailova, E., Post, C. J., Stringer, W. C., & Schlautman, M. A. (2007). Historical land use and soil analysis guiding corridor landscape design. Urban Ecosystems, 10, 53–72. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11252-006-0010-7
Konstantinova, E., Minkina, T., Sushkova, S., Konstantinov, A., Rajput, V. D., & Sherstnev, A. (2019). Urban soil geochemistry of an intensively developing Siberian city: A case study of Tyumen, Russia. Journal of Environmental Management, 239, 366–375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2019.03.095
Kowalska, J. B., Mazurek, R., Gąsiorek, M., & Zaleski, T. (2018). Pollution indices as useful tools for the comprehensive evaluation of the degree of soil contamination–A review. Environmental Geochemistry and Health, 40, 2395–2420. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10653-018-0106
Lee, P.-K., Chang, H., Yu, S., & Chae, K. (2018). Characterization of Cr (VI) - Containing solid phase particles in dry dust deposition in Daejeon, South Korea. Environmental Pollution, 243, 1637–1647. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2018.09.127
Li, F., Yang, H., Ramamoorthy, A., & Liu, Y. (2022). Pollution, sources, and human health risk assessment of heavy metals in urban areas around industrialization and urbanization-Northwest China. Chemosphere, 308, 136396. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2022.136396
Li, H. B., Yu, S., Li, G. L., Liu, Y., Yu, G. B., Deng, H., Wu, S. C., & Wong, M. H. (2012). Urbanization increased metal levels in lake surface sediment and catchment topsoil of waterscape parks. Science of the Total Environment, 432, 202–209. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.05.100
Li, P., Li, X., Bai, J., Meng, Y., Diao, X., Pan, K., Zhu, X., & Lin, G. (2022). Effects of land use on the heavy metal pollution in mangrove sediments: Study on a whole island scale in Hainan, China. Science of The Total Environment, 824, 15385. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153856
Li, X. (2016). Heavy metal pollution characteristics of three typical areas in Shanghai and assessment of heavy metal accumulation capacity of common greening trees in these areas. Shanghai Jiao Tong University. https://doi.org/10.27307/d.cnki.gsjtu.2016.003561
Li, Z., Ma, Z., Kuijp, T. J. V. D., Yuan, Z., & Huang, L. (2014). A review of soil heavy metal pollution from mines in China: Pollution and health risk assessment. Science of the Total Environment, 468–469, 843–853. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.08.090
Lin, Y., Luo, K., Su, Z., Wu, Y., & Wang, X. (2021). Impact imposed by urbanization on soil heavy metal content of lake wetland and evaluation of ecological risks in East Dongting Lake. Urban Climate, 42, 101–117. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-339557/v1
Liu, G., Wang, J., Zhang, E., Hou, J., & Liu, X. (2016). Heavy metal speciation and risk assessment in dry land and paddy soils near mining areas at Southern China. Environmental Science and Pollution Research, 23, 8709–8720. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-016-6114-6
Lu, Y., Xu, Y., Guo, Z., Shi, C., & Wang, J. (2022). A study of the differences in heavy metal distributions in different types of farmland in a mining area. Bulletin of Environmental Contamination Toxicology, 109, 788–798. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00128-022-03598-0
Mi, T., Xueqiu, W., Futian, L., Qinghai, H., Yu, Q., & Qiang, W. (2023). Spatial-temporal variability and influence factors of Cd in soils of Guangxi, China. PLOS ONE, 18, e0279980. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0279980
Mohammadi, M., Khaledi Darvishan, A., Dinelli, E., Bahramifar, N., & Alavi, S. J. (2022). How does land use configuration influence on sediment heavy metal pollution? Comparison between riparian zone and sub-watersheds. Stochastic Environmental Research and Risk Assessment, 36, 719–734. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00477-021-02082-1
Mohiuddin, K. M., Zakir, H. M., Otomo, K., Sharmin, S., & Shikazono, N. (2010). Geochemical distribution of trace metal pollutants in water and sediments of downstream of an urban river. International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 7, 17–28. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03326113
Morel, J. L., Chenu, C., & Lorenz, K. (2015). Ecosystem services provided by soils of urban, industrial, traffic, mining, and military areas (SUITMAs). Journal of Soils and Sediments, 15, 1659–1666. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0926-0
Mwesigye, A. R., Young, S. D., Bailey, E. H., & Tumwebaze, S. B. (2016). Population exposure to trace elements in the Kilembe copper mine area, Western Uganda: A pilot study. Science of the Total Environment, 573, 366–375. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2016.08.125
Padoan, E., Rome, C., & Ajmone-Marsan, F. (2017). Bioaccessibility and size distribution of metals in road dust and roadside soils along a peri-urban transect. Science of the Total Environment, 601–602, 89–98. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2017.05.180
Payá-pérez, A., Sala, J., & Mousty, F. (1993). Comparison of ICP-AES and ICP-MS for the analysis of trace elements in soil extracts. International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry, 51(1-4), 223–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/03067319308027628
Rahman, A. (2022). How to remediate heavy metal contamination in soil? Science Insights, 41, 669–674. https://doi.org/10.15354/si.22.re082
Rahman, M. S., Khan, M. D. H., Jolly, Y. N., Kabir, J., Akter, S., & Salam, A. (2019). Assessing risk to human health for heavy metal contamination through street dust in the Southeast Asian Megacity: Dhaka, Bangladesh. Science of the Total Environment, 660, 1610–1622. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.12.425
Rezapour, S., Moghaddam, S. S., Nouri, A., & Aqdam, K. K. (2022). Urbanization influences the distribution, enrichment, and ecological health risk of heavy metals in croplands. Scientific Reports, 12, 3868. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-07789-x
Rezayani, N., Mirmohammadi, M., & Mehrdadi, N. (2022). Origin and risk assessment, and evaluation of heavy metal pollution in the soil and air of Tehran (case study: Central district in Tehran city). International Journal of Environmental Science and Technology, 19, 7337–7358. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13762-022-03957-8
Rodriguez, L., Ruiz, E., Alonso-Azcarate, J., & Rincon, J. (2009). Heavy metal distribution and chemical speciation in tailings and soils around a Pb-Zn mine in Spain. Journal of Environmental Management, 90, 1106–1116. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jenvman.2008.04.007
Roy, M., & Mcdonald, L. M. (2015). Metal uptake in plants and health risk assessments in metal-contaminated smelter soils. Land Degradation Development, 26, 785–792. https://doi.org/10.1002/ldr.2237
Roy, S., Davison, A., & Östberg, J. (2017). Pragmatic factors outweigh ecosystem service goals in street tree selection and planting in South-East Queensland cities. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, 21, 166–174. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ufug.2016.12.003
Shi, G., Chen, Z., Bi, C., Li, Y., Teng, J., Wang, L., & Xu, S. (2010). Comprehensive assessment of toxic metals in urban and suburban street deposited sediments (SDSs) in the biggest metropolitan area of China. Environmental Pollution, 158, 694–703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2009.10.020
Shi, J., Zhao, D., Ren, F., & Huang, L. (2023). Spatiotemporal variation of soil heavy metals in China: The pollution status and risk assessment. Science of The Total Environment, 871, 161768. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.161768
Silva, S. D., Ball, A. S., Huynh, T., & Reichman, S. M. (2016). Metal accumulation in roadside soil in Melbourne, Australia: Effect of road age, traffic density and vehicular speed. Environmental Pollution, 208, 102–109. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2015.09.032
Sungur, A. (2016). Heavy metals mobility, sources, and risk assessment in soils and uptake by apple (Malus domestica Borkh.) leaves in urban apple orchards. Archives of Agronomy and Soil Science, 62, 1051–1065. https://doi.org/10.1080/03650340.2015.1109639
Swab, C., Lmcab, C., Hhw, D., Jie, L. A., Qsw, A., & Xie, L. A. (2019). Spatial distribution and source apportionment of heavy metals in soil from a typical county-level city of Guangdong Province, China. Science of the Total Environment, 655, 92–101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.11.244
Teng, J. (2021). Contamination characteristics of heavy metals in soils from urban green space in central Shanghai. Chinese Journal of Soil Science, 52, 927–933. https://doi.org/10.19336/j.cnki.trtb.2020071301
Viana, M., Kuhlbusch, T. A. J., Querol, X., Alastuey, A., Harrison, R. M., Hopke, P. K., Winiwarter, W., Vallius, M., Szidat, S., Prévôt, A. S. H., et al. (2008). Source apportionment of particulate matter in Europe: A review of methods and results. Journal of Aerosol Science, 39, 827–849. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaerosci.2008.05.007
Vrscaj, B., Poggio, L., & Marsan, F. A. (2008). A method for soil environmental quality evaluation for management and planning in urban areas. Landscape Urban Planning, 88, 81–94. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landurbplan.2008.08.005
Wang, M., Markert, B., Chen, W., Peng, C., & Ouyang, Z. (2012). Identification of heavy metal pollutants using multivariate analysis and effects of land uses on their accumulation in urban soils in Beijing, China. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 184, 5889–5897. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-011-2388-9
Wang, S., & Mulligan, C. N. (2006). Occurrence of arsenic contamination in Canada: Sources, behavior and distribution. Science of the Total Environment, 366, 701–721. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2005.09.005
Weissmannová, H. D., & Pavlovský, J. (2017). Indices of soil contamination by heavy metals–methodology of calculation for pollution assessment (minireview). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment, 189, 616. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6340-5
Wiseman, C. L. S., Zereini, F., & Puettmann, W. (2013). Traffic-related trace element fate and uptake by plants cultivated in roadside soils in Toronto, Canada. Science of the Total Environment, 442, 86–95. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.10.051
Yan, G., Mao, L., Liu, S., Mao, Y., Ye, H., Huang, T., Li, F., & Chen, L. (2018). Enrichment and sources of trace metals in roadside soils in Shanghai, China: A case study of two urban/rural roads. Science of the Total Environment, 631-632, 942–950. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2018.02.340
Yin, R., Wang, D., Deng, H., Shi, R., & Chen, Z. (2013). Heavy metal contamination and assessment of roadside and foliar dust along the outer-ring highway of Shanghai, China. Journal of Environmental Quality, 42, 1724–1732. https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2013.04.0150
Yu, Y., Li, J., Zhu, C., & Plaza, A. (2018). Urban impervious surface estimation from remote sensing and social data. Photogrammetric Engineering Remote Sensing, 84, 771–780. https://doi.org/10.14358/PERS.84.12.771
Zeng, Y., Bi, C., Jia, J., Deng, L., & Chen, Z. (2020). Impact of intensive land use on heavy metal concentrations and ecological risks in an urbanized river network of Shanghai. Ecological Indicators, 116(2020), 1065. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolind.2020.106501
Zhao, L., Xu, Y., Hou, H., Shangguan, Y., & Li, F. (2014). Source identification and health risk assessment of metals in urban soils around the Tanggu chemical industrial district, Tianjin, China. Science of the Total Environment, 468-469, 654–662. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2013.08.094
Zhao, S., Da, L., Tang, Z., Fang, H., Song, K., & Fang, J. (2006). Ecological consequences of rapid urban expansion: Shanghai, China. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 4, 341–346 https://www.jstor.org/stable/3868879
Acknowledgements
We would like to thank “Research Institution of Beautiful China and Ecological Civilization of Shanghai Institute of Technology” and “Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Urban Trees Ecological Application” for their support.
Funding
This work was supported by Shanghai Engineering Research Center of Urban Trees Ecological Application (17DZ2252000), Shanghai Science & Technology Commission (19DZ1203701 and 22dz1202600), and Collaborative Innovation Fund of Shanghai Institute of Technology, Shanghai (XTCX2022-06).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
H. K. and W. B. conceived the idea and designed the research workflow. H. K. and W. J. carried out the experiment and wrote the manuscript. G. H. and Z. Y. performed the data analysis. H. K. and F. S. provided resources needed in the research. Q. Z. and L. N. provided guidance for data analysis. Y. R. revised the manuscript. All authors have read, revised, and approved the submitted version of the manuscript.
Corresponding authors
Ethics declarations
Competing interests
The authors have no relevant financial or non-financial interests to disclose.
Additional information
Publisher’s note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary Information
ESM 1
(DOCX 37 kb)
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
He, K., Wang, J., Geng, H. et al. Will different land uses affect heavy metal pollution in soils of roadside trees? An empirical study from Shanghai. Environ Monit Assess 195, 1388 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-12021-y
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-12021-y