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Soil–plant transfer models for metals to improve soil screening value guidelines valid for São Paulo, Brazil

Environmental Monitoring and Assessment volume 189, Article number: 615 (2017) Cite this article

Abstract

In Brazil, there is a lack of combined soil–plant data attempting to explain the influence of specific climate, soil conditions, and crop management on heavy metal uptake and accumulation by plants. As a consequence, soil–plant relationships to be used in risk assessments or for derivation of soil screening values are not available. Our objective in this study was to develop empirical soil–plant models for Cd, Cu, Pb, Ni, and Zn, in order to derive appropriate soil screening values representative of humid tropical regions such as the state of São Paulo (SP), Brazil. Soil and plant samples from 25 vegetable species in the production areas of SP were collected. The concentrations of metals found in these soil samples were relatively low. Therefore, data from temperate regions were included in our study. The soil–plant relations derived had a good performance for SP conditions for 8 out of 10 combinations of metal and vegetable species. The bioconcentration factor (BCF) values for Cd, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in lettuce and for Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn in carrot were determined under three exposure scenarios at pH 5 and 6. The application of soil–plant models and the BCFs proposed in this study can be an important tool to derive national soil quality criteria. However, this methodological approach includes data assessed under different climatic conditions and soil types and need to be carefully considered.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the Brazilian Federal Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel (CAPES) for the fellowship to Sabrina Novaes dos Santos-Araujo during her stay at RIVM (the Netherlands) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq) for the research fellowship to Luís R.F. Alleoni. The RIVM is also gratefully acknowledged for the logistical support. We thank Dr. Paul F.A.M. Römkens (Alterra), for supporting and suggestions, of great relevance to the realization of this study.

Funding

We thank the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP, Grant Nos. 2012/03682-2 and 2013/08579-8) for the financial support.

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Affiliations

  1. São Paulo State University (UNESP/FEIS), Av. Brasil, 56, Centro, Ilha Solteira, SP, 15385-000, Brazil

    Sabrina N. dos Santos-Araujo

  2. National Institute of Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), P.O. Box 1, 3720 BA, Bilthoven, The Netherlands

    Frank A. Swartjes & Kees W. Versluijs

  3. Environmental Agency of the State of São Paulo (CETESB), São Paulo, SP, 05459-900, Brazil

    Fabio Netto Moreno

  4. Luiz de Queiroz College of Agriculture (ESALQ)/University of São Paulo (USP), CP 09, Piracicaba, SP, 13418-900, Brazil

    Luís R. F. Alleoni

Authors
  1. Sabrina N. dos Santos-Araujo
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  2. Frank A. Swartjes
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  3. Kees W. Versluijs
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  4. Fabio Netto Moreno
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  5. Luís R. F. Alleoni
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Correspondence to Sabrina N. dos Santos-Araujo.

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dos Santos-Araujo, S.N., Swartjes, F.A., Versluijs, K.W. et al. Soil–plant transfer models for metals to improve soil screening value guidelines valid for São Paulo, Brazil. Environ Monit Assess 189, 615 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6298-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-017-6298-3

Keywords

  • Tropical soils
  • Bioconcentration factor
  • Soil pollution
  • Plant uptake
  • Empirical Freundlich-type models