Uptake of Heavy Metals from Contaminated Soils by Salt-Marsh Plants

Abstract

Spartina anglica, Puccinellia maritima and Aster tripolium, three common salt-marsh species in Western Europe, were grown in contaminated sediment from the port area of Antwerp (Belgium). Growth and levels of heavy metal contamination were compared with those of Spartina alterniflora, a common salt- marsh species from the United States. The plants were grown under waterlogged and drained soil conditions. In both cases was a high and a low soil salinity maintained. The levels of heavy metals in the shoots of the plants were generally higher under drained conditions. The difference in salinity gave no obvious differences in metal levels in the shoots. Plants grown in the same sediment, after having allowed it to dry out and get aerated, had higher levels of heavy metals in their shoots. The different plant species showed all different levels of metals in the shoots when grown under the same circumstances: P. maritima had the lowest levels, A. tripolium the highest. In A. tripolium there was also a significant difference in metal-levels in leaf- and stem material. (Author)

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