Abstract
Ecological environment of remote grassland has become a problem in many countries due to mining, tourism, grazing, and other human activities. In this study, a total of 15 pairs of soil-herbage samples were collected in the northeast of the Tibet Plateau to study the relationship between physicochemical properties and content of trace elements in soils at different elevation, and to examine the accumulation and fractionation of heavy metals in soil-herbage systems. In addition, the ecological risk of the subalpine grassland was also assessed. The average concentrations of Hg, As, Cu, Zn, Pb, Cd, Cr, and Mn in soil were higher than their background values of Gansu soil, but the average concentrations of these heavy metals in herbage satisfied Hygienical Standard for Feeds. The speciation analysis of heavy metals in soil indicated that the exchangeable content of heavy metal was very low, except Pb, Cd, and Mn. There was a linear relationship between pH, CaCO3, total phosphorus (TP), organic matter (OM), concentrations of Hg, As, Zn, Pb, Cr, and Mn in soils, dry weight of herbage, and elevation, while there was a quadratic curve trend between Cu, Cd in soils, and elevation. The results of risk assessment showed that there was no obvious ecological risk in the study area.
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The datasets used or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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The authors thank Jianhong Yang and Guozhu Huang for their contribution in the experiment.
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Qianfang Yang completed sample processing, analyzed and interpreted the data, and was a major contributor in writing the manuscript. Shengli Wang and Zhongren Nan provided the experimental conditions and funds, and directed the experiment and designed the framework of the paper. Cuicui Zhao gave guidance on grammar and content. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Yang, Q., Wang, S., Zhao, C. et al. Risk assessment of trace elements accumulation in soil-herbage systems at varied elevation in subalpine grassland of northern Tibet Plateau. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 27636–27650 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18366-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-18366-6