Abstract
Salt marshes are among the most productive ecosystems in the world (Adam, 1990). Cities and industrialised areas were often installed in the proximity of salt marshes in estuaries and coastal lagoons. In these cases, tidal flooding transports large quantities of contaminants in both dissolved and suspended particulate forms to the salt marshes. Salt marsh vegetation influences the dynamics of the estuarine ecosystem and retains efficiently anthropogenic metals discharged to the system. Complex interactions between root and sediments result in the redistribution of metals in the sediment-root system (Tinker and Barraclough, 1988). In many marshes it has been shown that plants have a dominant role on the metal cycling (Vale, 1990; Caçador et al., 1996). Metals are taken up by the roots, translocated to the above ground parts of the plants and, when they die, metals return to the sediments when organic matter is oxidised. Since roots accumulate larger proportions of metals (Caçador et al., 2000; Otte, 1991) the interactions between below-ground biomass and sediments are extremely active and may have a strong influence on the form and concentrations of metals in the rhizosphere (Caçador et al., 1996).
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Caçador, I., Vale, C. (2003). Metal partition in Tagus estuary salt marshes: a case study. In: Lieth, H., Mochtchenko, M. (eds) Cash Crop Halophytes: Recent Studies. Tasks for Vegetation Science, vol 38. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0211-9_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-0211-9_11
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