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Inter-population variation on the accumulation and translocation of potentially harmful chemical elements in Cistus ladanifer L. from Brancanes, Caveira, Chança, Lousal, Neves Corvo and São Domingos mines in the Portuguese Iberian Pyrite Belt

  • POTENTIALLY HARMFUL ELEMENTS IN SOIL-PLANT INTERACTIONS
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Abstract

Purpose

This study aimed to compare the variation on the accumulation and translocation of potentially harmful chemical elements and nutrients (As, Ca, Cu, Fe, K, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn) in Cistus ladanifer L. belonging to populations growing in different mine areas from the Portuguese Iberian Pyrite Belt (Brancanes, Caveira, Chança, Lousal, Neves Corvo, São Domingos). These mines are abandoned (except Neves Corvo that is still operating) and have different contamination levels.

Materials and methods

Composite samples of soils (n = 31), developed on different mine wastes and/or host rock, and C. ladanifer plants (roots and shoots) were collected in the mine areas. Soils were characterized for pH, NPK and organic C, by classical methodologies. Soils (total fraction—four acid digestion, and available fraction—extracted with aqueous solution of diluted organic acids, simulating rizosphere conditions) and plants (ashing followed by acid digestion) elemental concentrations were determined by ICP. Soil–plant transfer and translocation coefficients were calculated. Principal components analysis in both ways, the classical method and a second approach with adaptations used mostly in multivariate statistical processes control data, were done in order to compare the plants populations.

Results and discussion

Soils had large heterogeneity in their characteristics. Caveira, Lousal, Neves Corvo and São Domingos soils showed the highest total concentrations of As, Cu, Pb and Zn. Independently of the mine, available fractions of elements were low. Intra- and inter-population variations in accumulation and translocation of elements were evaluated. Plants were not accumulators of the majority of the analysed elements. Nutrients were mainly translocated from roots to shoots, while trace elements were stored in roots (except in Neves Corvo for As and Pb, and São Domingos for As). Elements concentrations in plant populations from Lousal, Chança and São Domingos did not present much variation. Brancanes soils and plants presented strong differences compared to other areas.

Conclusions

Cistus ladanifer plants are able to survive in mining areas with polymetallic contamination at different elements concentrations in total and available fraction. This species presented variations inter- and intra-populations in accumulation and translocation of chemical elements; however, all studied populations, except Brancanes, can belong to the same population cluster.

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Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank José Correia for technical support and the FCT-Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology for financial research support of CICECO—Centro de Investigação em Materiais Cerâmicos e Compósitos (Program Pest-C/CTM/LA0011/2011) and UIQA—Unidade de Investigação Química Ambiental, and PhD grant (SFRH/BD/80198/2011).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centro de Investigação em Ciências do Ambiente e Empresariais, Instituto Superior Dom Afonso III, Convento Espírito Santo, 8100-641, Loulé, Portugal

    Erika S. Santos & Eliana Fernandes

  2. Unidade de Investigação de Química Ambiental, Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Universidade de Lisboa, Tapada da Ajuda, 1349-017, Lisboa, Portugal

    Erika S. Santos & Maria Manuela Abreu

  3. Laboratório Nacional de Energia e Geologia, Estrada da Portela, Apartado 7586, 2721-866, Alfragide, Portugal

    Maria João Batista

  4. Centro de Investigação em Materiais Cerâmicos e Compósitos (CICECO), Departmento de Química, Universidade de Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    M. Clara F. Magalhães

Authors
  1. Erika S. Santos
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  2. Maria Manuela Abreu
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  3. Maria João Batista
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  4. M. Clara F. Magalhães
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  5. Eliana Fernandes
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Correspondence to Maria Manuela Abreu.

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Responsible editor: Jaume Bech

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Santos, E.S., Abreu, M.M., Batista, M.J. et al. Inter-population variation on the accumulation and translocation of potentially harmful chemical elements in Cistus ladanifer L. from Brancanes, Caveira, Chança, Lousal, Neves Corvo and São Domingos mines in the Portuguese Iberian Pyrite Belt. J Soils Sediments 14, 758–772 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11368-014-0852-1

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