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A geostatistical approach to compare metal accumulation pattern by lichens in plain and mountainous regions of northern and central India

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Abstract

Based on the physicochemical characteristics, metals emitted from the source (both natural and anthropogenic) contributes towards spatial continuity at a regional scale. Apart from the intrinsic properties of metals, meteorological conditions and topography of the region are also known to contribute towards spatial continuity. In the present study, a comparative spatial assessment of 12 metals in lichen Phaeophyscia hispidula collected from mountains and plains of northern and north-central India was carried out with the help of the indicator kriging method. The total metal concentration varies between 25.4–429 µgg−1 and 22.8–507 µgg−1 dry weight in plains and mountains, respectively. The ‘Indicator Kriging’, a cokriging non-parametric approach has been applied to predict the total metal load (TML) probability from a regional lichen database derived from the different metals in the mountain and plain regions. Cr, Cd, Cu and Pb had higher concentrations having higher coverage area, while metals like Cd and Hg had the highest localized distribution indicating point sources. The probability values of TML are further related with topography, population density and land cover attributes to specific factors responsible for metal accumulation in the study area. Observations indicated that apart from local sources, topography, population density and land cover, also plays an essential role in the spatial behaviour of the metals, which has been verified by the bioaccumulation pattern of metals in lichen samples from the mountainous region. Among which three mountainous states of Northern India, Uttarakhand has a higher concentration of metals which may be attributed to the topography and local anthropogenic sources.

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The lichen voucher specimen was deposited in the herbarium of the CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow (LWG), India.

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Acknowledgements

Authors are thankful to Prof. S. K. Barik, Director, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Lucknow, for providing laboratory facilities for work. The authors RB and DKU thanks to the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, for award of Scientist Pool fellowship (8909-A) and Emeritus scientist fellowship (21/1045/18/EMR-II), respectively. VS acknowledges SR/FTP/ES-39/2013. This manuscript bears CSIR-NBRI, communication Number CSIR-NBRI-MS/2020/11/07.

Funding

Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi.

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Author notes

  1. Rajesh Bajpai and Vertika Shukla these authors contributed equally.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lichenology Laboratory, Plant Diversity Systematics and Herbarium Division, CSIR-National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, India

    Rajesh Bajpai & Dalip Kumar Upreti

  2. Department of Geology, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (Central) University, Vidya Vihar, Raebareli Road, Lucknow, India

    Vertika Shukla

  3. Remote Sensing & GIS Lab, Department of Geology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India

    Ashwani Raju

  4. AED//BPSG/EPSA, Space Applications Centre-ISRO, Ahmedabad, India

    Chandra Prakash Singh

Authors
  1. Rajesh Bajpai
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  2. Vertika Shukla
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  3. Ashwani Raju
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  4. Chandra Prakash Singh
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  5. Dalip Kumar Upreti
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Contributions

Author RB, VS: collected samples, RB: perform metal estimation and writing first draft of manuscript. VS, RB and AR: in writing and finalizing the manuscript. AR: performed kriging analysis of data. Authors CPS and DKU: provide fruitful discussions and comments for improving the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Rajesh Bajpai.

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Bajpai, R., Shukla, V., Raju, A. et al. A geostatistical approach to compare metal accumulation pattern by lichens in plain and mountainous regions of northern and central India. Environ Earth Sci 81, 203 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12665-022-10336-6

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