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Modelling the Fate of Chemicals in Plants

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Modelling the Fate of Chemicals in the Environment and the Human Body

Part of the book series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry ((HEC,volume 57))

Abstract

Consumption of contaminated fruits, vegetables and/or cereals may be a significant exposure route for human exposure to chemicals. This chapter describes the processes that should be considered in models simulating the fate of chemicals in plants. The first section describes modelling approaches able to simulate the uptake of chemicals from soil to root and their subsequent transport through the xylem flow. This process is governed by the transpiration stream, driving the movement of dissolved chemicals in the continuum soil-root-stem-leaves/storage organs. Section 2 describes the transport of chemicals in the phloem system, which is responsible for distributing the products of photosynthesis from the leaves to the rest of the plant. Section 3 describes diffusion of chemicals from soil to tubers, which are botanically seen as a part of the stem. The transport of chemicals inside the tuber is driven by partition coefficients, water and gas contents, and diffusion coefficients in water/gas pores. Section 4 describes diffusive exchanges between leaves and air through both the stomata and cuticle pathways. Diffusion is driven by several permeabilities in series and/or in parallel within the leaf structure. Section 5 describes processes responsible for deposition and interception of chemicals on above-ground plant. Wet particle deposition is driven by rain events while dry deposition is driven by gravitational deposition of aerosols. Both the fractions of dry and wet deposits intercepted by leaf can be related to the interception fraction and the above-ground biomass (or leaf area index). Section 6 describes partition of chemicals between plant and plant water. Section 7 describes specific electrodiffusive processes for electrolytes. Such processes have to account for the distribution of the chemical among neutral and dissociated species and for electrical potential across the membrane. Section 8 describes data available for bioaccumulation of metals in plants.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. EDF R&D, National Hydraulics and Environment Laboratory, 6 quai Watier, 78400, Chatou, France

    Philippe Ciffroy & Taku Tanaka

Authors
  1. Philippe Ciffroy
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  2. Taku Tanaka
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Correspondence to Philippe Ciffroy .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. National Hydraulics and Environment Laboratory, EDF R&D, Chatou, France

    Philippe Ciffroy

  2. Aeiforia srl , Gariga di Podenzano, Piacenza, Italy

    Alice Tediosi

  3. OPERA Research Center, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy

    Ettore Capri

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Ciffroy, P., Tanaka, T. (2018). Modelling the Fate of Chemicals in Plants. In: Ciffroy, P., Tediosi, A., Capri, E. (eds) Modelling the Fate of Chemicals in the Environment and the Human Body. The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, vol 57. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59502-3_8

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