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Prediction of the edaphic factors influence upon the copper and cobalt accumulation in two metallophytes using copper and cobalt speciation in soils

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Abstract

Background and aims

Among the unique flora on copper and cobalt rich soils, some species are able to hyperaccumulate the Cu and Co in their shoots, however, the unexplained high variations of Cu and Co concentrations in shoots have been highlighted. A good comprehension of the Cu and Co accumulation variations would go through a characterization of the Cu and Co speciation in soils. We examined the covariations of Cu and Co speciation in soils and Cu and Co concentrations in plants.

Methods

Plant samples of two species and soil samples (n = 146) were collected in seven pedogeochemically contrasted sites. Cu and Co speciation in soils was modeled by WHAM 6.0.

Results

Variation in copper accumulation in plant shoots were mostly influenced by Cu adsorbed by the Mn and Fe oxides fractions, whereas Co accumulation variations were strongly influenced by Co free and Co adsorbed by the OM and Fe fractions.

Conclusions

Availability of Cu and Co seems to be species-specific and is not explained only by the free Cu and Co content in the soil solution, but also strongly by the part linked to colloidal fractions. Availability of Cu and Co is a complex mechanism, closely related to all the biogeochemical processes which occur in the rhizosphere. Future work should perform experiments in controlled conditions to examine the soil parameters that influence the Cu and Co availability.

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Abbreviations

MnOX:

Manganese oxides

FeOx:

Iron oxides

HM:

Humic material

OM:

Organic matter

-MnOx:

Bound to manganese oxides

-FeOx:

Bound to iron oxides

-OM:

Bound to organic matter

SD:

Standard deviation

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Acknowledgments

The Polytechnic Institute LaSalle Beauvais (IPLB, Fr) and the Belgian Fund for Scientific Research (FRS-FNRS) are acknowledged for financial support to Bastien Lange, who is a research fellow of the Fonds pour la Recherche dans l’Industrie et l’Agriculture (FRIA, Belgium). Chemaf society, Kalumine society, Tenke Fungurume Mining S.a.r.l. permitted us the plants and soils collection. We are grateful to Serge Ngoy and Jean-Jacques Lunzanga for their help in the plants and soils sampling. We are grateful to Petru Jitaru from HydrISE unit (IPLB, France) for his help in the ICP-MS analysis.

We gratefully thank David Houben (IPLB) and Jean-Paul Reynoird (IPLB) for the manuscript pre-review and Kristine French (University of Wollongong, Au), native speaker, for English reviewing.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. HYdrISE (Hydrogeochemistry Interactions Soil Environment) unit, UP.2012.10.102, Institut Polytechnique LaSalle Beauvais (ISAB-IGAL), 19 rue Pierre Waguet, FR-60026, Beauvais, France

    Bastien Lange, Michel-Pierre Faucon & Olivier Pourret

  2. Laboratory of Plant Ecology and Biogeochemistry, Université Libre de Bruxelles, 50 Avenue F. Roosevelt, BE-1150, Brussels, Belgium

    Bastien Lange & Pierre Meerts

  3. Departement of Forest, Nature and Landscape, Biodiversity and Landscape Unit, Gembloux Agro-Bio Tech, University of Liège, 2 Passage des Déportés, BE-5030, Gembloux, Belgium

    Grégory Mahy

  4. Faculté des Sciences Agronomiques, Université de Lubumbashi, Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo

    Mylor Shutcha

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  1. Bastien Lange
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  2. Michel-Pierre Faucon
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  3. Pierre Meerts
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  4. Mylor Shutcha
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  5. Grégory Mahy
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  6. Olivier Pourret
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Correspondence to Bastien Lange.

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Lange, B., Faucon, MP., Meerts, P. et al. Prediction of the edaphic factors influence upon the copper and cobalt accumulation in two metallophytes using copper and cobalt speciation in soils. Plant Soil 379, 275–287 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11104-014-2068-y

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