The Environmentalist

, Volume 31, Issue 3, pp 288–298 | Cite as

Morphological and anatomical effects of crude oil on Pistia stratiotes

  • Akintunde Abdul-Rasaq Akapo
  • S. O. Omidiji
  • A. A. Otitoloju
Article

Abstract

Fresh whole plants of Pistia stratiotes were exposed to varying doses of crude oil (0–100 ppm) for 28 days at normal temperature of 30 ± 2°C. Samples were taken weekly during this period for determination of changes in leaf area, root length, number of leaves, and number of sprouts. The cross-section of one terminal end of the major roots and cellular distribution of the meristematic region were also examined. The results show that crude oil was toxic to the plant at all concentrations in all investigated parameters for as low as 10 ppm. Association was also observed between crude oil toxicity and certain metals inherent in the crude oil such as manganese and lead. Cell shape disruptions, changes in mitotic indices, and the distortion of cellular anatomy and structure at the apical region also characterized the presence of crude oil in the environment of P. stratiotes. P. stratiotes may not be a good bio-accumulator of crude oil but may be used for the detection of pollution.

Keywords

Crude oil pollution Pistia stratiotes Cytotoxicity Morphological aberrations in Pistia stratiotes Anatomical aberrations Crude oil pollution in Nigeria 

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Akintunde Abdul-Rasaq Akapo
    • 1
  • S. O. Omidiji
    • 1
  • A. A. Otitoloju
    • 2
  1. 1.Department of Cell Biology and Genetics, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of LagosAkoka, Yaba, LagosNigeria
  2. 2.Department of Zoology, Ecotoxicology Laboratory, Faculty of ScienceUniversity of LagosAkoka, Yaba, LagosNigeria

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