Deposition and solubility of airborne metals to four plant species grown at varying distances from two heavily trafficked roads in London

Abstract

UWE makes no representation or warranties of commercial utility, title, or fitness for a particular purpose or any other warranty, express or implied in respect of any material deposited.UWE makes no representation that the use of the materials will not infringe any patent, copyright, trademark or other property or proprietary rights.UWE accepts no liability for any infringement of intellectual property rights in any material deposited but will remove such material from public view pending investigation in the event of an allegation of any such infringement. Email addresses: danielle.sinnett@forestry.gsi.gov.uk, 9 matthew.wilkinson@forestry.gsi.gov.uk, geoff.morgan@forestry.gsi.gov.uk, peter.freer-10 smith@forestry.gsi.gov.uk, tony.hutchings@forestry.gsi.gov.uk 11 12Abstract 13 In urban areas, a highly variable mixture of pollutants is deposited as particulate 14 matter. The concentration and bioavailability of individual pollutants within particles need to 15 be characterised to ascertain the risks to ecological receptors. This study, carried out at two 16 urban parks, measured the deposition and water-solubility of metals to four species common 17 to UK urban areas. Foliar Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn concentrations were elevated in at 18 least one species compared with those from a rural control site. Concentrations were, 19 however, only affected by distance to road in nettle and, to a lesser extent, birch leaves. 20Greater concentrations of metal were observed in these species compared to cypress and 21 maple possibly due to differences in plant morphology and leaf surfaces. Solubility appeared 22 to be linked to the size fraction and, therefore, origin of the metal with those present 23 predominantly in the coarse fraction exhibiting low solubility. 24 Capsule 25High density traffic resulted in elevated metal concentrations on vegetation, which were 26 related to distance from road and plant species. Particulate matter (PM) within the urban environment contains a range of metals that 31 are attributed to a number of both natural and anthropogenic sources (Harrison et al., 2003). 32The metals Ba, Cd, Cr, Cu, Fe, Ni, Pb and Zn are often associated with high traffic densities; 33 originating from exhaust emission, tyre, brake, vehicle and engine wear, or the re-suspension 34 of road dusts (Allen et al., 2001; Harrison et al., 2003; Monaci et al., 2000; Riga-Karandinos 35 and Saitanis, 2004; Wåhlin et al., 2006). 36Metals can be deposited onto vegetation growing in urban greenspaces as particles 37 or within rain or fog droplets, often referred to as dry, wet and occult deposition respectively. 38Deposition of metals can be significant enough to cause short-term variations in foliar metal 39 concentration (Fernández Espinosa and Rossini Oliva, 2006; Kozlov et al., 1995; Monaci et 40 al., 2000; Riga-Karandinos and Saitanis, 2004) and can account for a large proportion of 41 metals recorded in plant leaves (Kozlov et al., 2000a; Riga-Karandinos and Saitanis, 2004). 42Once deposited on vegetation, metals ...

Spatial distribution and controlling factors of heavy metals contents in paddy soil and crop grains of rice–wheat cropping system along highway in East China

“…3). This was inconsistent with the previous studies investigating the concentrations of heavy metals in the leaves of roadside vegetables (Nabulo et al 2006), grasses (Viard et al 2004) or other landscape plants (Peachey et al 2009). The distance from road was recognized as the main factors dominating the contents of traffic-related metals in the leaves of these roadside plants.…”

A rapid assessment of the impact of hazard reduction burning around Sydney, May 2016

“…Based on dispersion simulations for elemental carbon, the distance-decay gradient was in the range of 100-400 m from the source. For ultrafine particle counts, the gradient was 100-300 m; NO 2 had gradients of 200-500 m. Also, metals (Peachey et al, 2009) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (Schnelle-Kreis et al, 1999) have shown a distance-decay gradient for roads. While this chapter was being prepared, Karner, Eisinger & Niemeier (2010) published a systematic compilation of the proximity measurements of multiple pollutants classified by category, which is a useful addition to this discussion.…”

Accumulation of particles on the surface of leaves during leaf expansion

“…Size distribution, chemical composition and source of PM on the leaf surfaces have been examined in various environments (Freer-Smith et al, 1997;Wang et al, 2006). The observed values changed obviously with distance from a road and the height of the samples due to different concentrations of PM (Peachey et al, 2009;Sternberg et al, 2010). However, an understanding of the effect of rainfall on the accumulation of PM on the leaf surfaces in a native environment with extremely high PM concentration is not sufficient.…”

“…The capacity of plants to accumulate PM indicates considerable species-specific differences that depend mainly on the properties of the leaf surfaces. In addition, this capacity is influenced by other factors such as branch and foliage configurations, PM exposure level and meteorological conditions (Freer-Smith et al, 2005;Peachey et al, 2009;Pullman, 2009;Rodriguez-Germade et al, 2014;Saebø et al, 2012). Leaf surfaces are composed of cuticles and superimposed epicuticular waxes with a considerable ultrastructural and chemical diversity .…”