Abstract
The spatial variation (within a 100 × 100 m plot) in the pollution of forest litter with heavy metals (Cu, Cd, Pb, and Zn), its acidity, and phytotoxicity (measured by the results of the root test using seedlings from a genetically homogeneous sample of common dandelion (Taraxacum officinale s.l.) have been estimated. Forest litter has been sampled in three zones differing in the toxic impact of long-term polymetal pollution by emissions from a copper-smelting plant emissions in the Middle Urals. The phytotoxicity variation is maximum in a moderately polluted plot, where both very high and very low pollution levels were observed, which determines a substantially nonlinear dose–effect relationship. The litter phytotoxicity is mainly accounted for by exchangeable forms of metals. Biological testing of samples from the most polluted plot has demonstrated marked antagonism between heavy metals and acidity.
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Vorobeichik, E.L., Pozolotina, V.N. Microscale Spatial Variation in Forest Litter Phytotoxicity. Russian Journal of Ecology 34, 381–388 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1027308400182
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1027308400182