Influence of soil hydrological conditions on the accumulation of heavy metals in tree species in the post-mining landscape of Freiberg, Germany (Saxony)
- 1Institute of Bio- and Geosciences: Agrosphere (IBG-3), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany
- 2Dnipro State Agrarian and Economic University, Ukraine
- 3Institute of Biosciences, Technische Universität Bergakademie Freiberg, Germany
- 4Czech University of Life Sciences Prague (CZU), Czech Republic
The post-mining landscape of Freiberg, Saxony, Germany is characterized by soils with elevated concentrations of non-essential elements, particularly arsenic (As), cadmium (Cd) and lead (Pb). While literature on soil mineralization and factors influencing the soil-plant transfer in managed agroecosystems is extensive, information on the accumulation in native woody plant species, including soil-associated factors influencing their accumulation, is still lacking. In this study, we evaluated the concentrations of 24 elements, including As, Cd and Pb in leaves and branches of three taxa of tree species (Betula pendula, Populus tremula and Salix spec.) throughout the study area and compared the results with data on potentially plant available element concentrations in soil (sequential extraction), total element concentrations as well as with remote sensing data on surface soil moisture and water availability in the root-zone. Populus tremula and Salix spec. were identified as plant species that are suitable for bioindication of soil pollution. Leaf concentrations were substantially higher compared to branches. The concentrations in leaves largely reflected the availability of elements in soil. Concomitantly, higher soil-plant-transfer of elements correlated with remote sensing data, onsurface water accumulation and water content in the root-zone. This suggests that higher soil water contents increase the availability of the toxic elements to plants and/or impacts the translocation of elements to aboveground plant parts. The contribution of soil-associated factors and plant-associated factors to the hyperaccumulation observed remains a field for further research. Nevertheless, we could demonstrate that coupling leaf analysis with remote sensing data on soil moisture could be a promising approach in environmental assessments as well as in phytoremediation and phytomining approaches.
How to cite: Lovynska, V., Wiche, O., Montzka, C., Syntyk, S., Sivaprasad, V., Samarska, A., and Mengen, D.: Influence of soil hydrological conditions on the accumulation of heavy metals in tree species in the post-mining landscape of Freiberg, Germany (Saxony), A European vision for hydrological observations and experimentation, Naples, Italy, 12–15 Jun 2023, GC8-Hydro-38, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-gc8-hydro-38, 2023.
