Plant adaptations to contamination with metals and metalloids

Ermengol Ferrer Bustins

závěrečná práce studenta vyššího odborného studia

Abstract:

Soil metal contamination due to anthropogenic activities, such as mining or smelting, is an environmental concern that can cause drastic vegetation changes. Plants growing in these contaminated sites are highly affected by these pollutant concentrations, especially when metals are found in mobile or easily mobilizable forms because plants roots can uptake them more easily. In Příbram district (Czech Republic), Ag-Pb mining was held and therefore high concentrations of Pb and Zn are present in the nearby area and also along Litavka alluvium. Due to recent floods, these metals were leached and mobilized through the soils, and consequently, in the worst-case scenario metals could reach the groundwater system which would be an important hazardous health risk for living beings. To prevent such metal mobilization from happening, aided phytostabilization methods using native species could be carried out. A. capillaris and F. rubra grasses were found in Litavka alluvium growing naturally, which indicates that these species are tolerant to Příbram metal(loid) contamination. In this study, germination tests using BC and nZVI amendments applied to contaminated soils were conducted to determine the germination capability of the seeds specimens mentioned and to check if seedlings were positively or negatively affected by the amendments used. Around 90% of purchased A. capillaris seeds germinated under amended contaminated soils, whereas the seeds collected in Příbram presented not even a 10 % germination percentage. In F. rubra species, nearby a 35% germination percentage was observed under BC and nZVI amended soils, while not even a 30% was observed under BC+nZVI conditions. Regarding the results of the physiological experiment, Pnaturalis seedlings presented the longest shoot elongations when BC or nZVI amendment was used. Again, the longest root elongations in F. rubra seeds were recorded under one of these treatments conditions. Therefore, it was observed that BC and nZVI amendments when used separately and in low concentrations do not influence seed germinative capability and that these treatments can avoid seedlings from metal uptake provoking a seedlings physiologic enhancement regarding root and shoot elongations.

Keywords

metal contamination, Příbram, biochar, nano zero-valent iron, Agrostis capillaris, Festuca rubra, Pb, Zn, seed germination, seed physiology

Jazyk práce: English

Datum vytvoření / odevzdání či podání práce: 15. 5. 2018

Obhajoba závěrečné práce

• Vedúci: Ing. Zuzana Michálková, Ph.D.
• Oponent: Jindřich Černý, Ph.D.

Czech University of Life Sciences Prague

Faculty of Environmental Sciences

Master programme / odbor:
Foreign students / Exchange programs