Authors: G Brunetti P SolerRovira K Farrag N Senesi
Publish Date: 2008/11/28
Volume: 318, Issue: 1-2, Pages: 285-298
Abstract
Many sites inside a protected area in Apulia region Italy have been contaminated with heavy metals Cd Cr Cu Ni Pb Zn because an inadequate disposal of a variety of wastes with different sources of origin As first measure insitu phytoremediation techniques were evaluated using only the natural plants that grew wildly on the contaminated soils in order to minimize the environmental impact on this fragile ecosystem Total contents of metals in soils generally exceeded the maximum levels indicated in Italian and European regulations specially Cr and Zn Although the extractable fraction was elementdependent the metal immobilization was enhanced by the components of soils Maximum mobilizable fractions DTPA of total content were 30 Cd 001 Cr 115 Cu 41 Ni 133 Pb and 138 Zn The general trend of metal accumulation in plants was Zn Cu Cr Pb Ni Cd and statically accumulation differences were found to largely depend on plant species Thus different metal uptake and translocation strategies were suggested in the studied species exclusion for Stipa austroitalica and Dasypyrum villosum whereas tolerance mechanisms for Carduus pycnocephalus Silybum marianum and Sinapis arvensis The metal contents in above ground parts of these species were within the values of normal in plants and below phytotoxic levels thus faraway from phytoextraction applicability These species can be considered as metal excluder or tolerant plants with ability of growing in soils with a wide range of heavy metal concentrations mainly immobilized by soil conditions Thus they accomplished the criteria to be considered for phytostabilization technique in these contaminated sitesThis work has been funded by Regione Puglia Italy through the research project POR Puglia 2000–2006 Misura 18Azione 4 “Monitoraggio siti inquinati” Supporto scientifico alle attività di recupero funzionale ed il ripristino ambientale del sito inquinato dell’Alta Murgia The authors are grateful to Dr Enrico Vito Perrino for plant identification and help during the field work
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