Metal Pollution of Forest Phytomass from Uranium Industry in Czech Republic and Its Ecological Management Perspectives

Abstract

The paper is focused on the issue of metals migration within the forest environment affected by deep mining of metals and the possibility how to immobilize them using an environment-friendly method. First, the paper presents the information about metal content in the tree leaves in alluvial recipients polluted by metals from uranium deep mining at Dolní Rožínka, the Czech Republic. X-ray fluorescence analysis of dried leaves results showed the increased content of Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Rb, Sr, Zn and U; it corresponds to the most seriously polluted areas in the world comparing with the scientific literature. However, statistically, we did not succeed to demonstrate in none of areas of interest the element heterogeneity between the upper, middle and lower streams segments. Element habitat homogeneity can be caused by current stand species composition where Picea abies L. dominates and this fact results in the negative impact on the soil pH since it is a primary factor of metals immobilization in the ecosystem and their transformation into toxic variations. Within the area of interest, there is demonstrated positive effect of reconstruction of forest stands, which are close to the dominating deciduous trees, especially Fagus silvatica L. This management change in the selected interested forest stands can result in Ca supply of up to 39 kg.ha −1 from strictly natural sources, which might be a perspective alternative to liming.

The Need to Improve Riparian Forests Management in Uranium Mining Areas Based on Assessment of Heavy Metal and Uranium Contamination

“…The selection of the riparian forest areas for research was based on the study by Juřička et al [25]. The design of sampling took into account the morphology of the watercourses and the distance from the point source of pollution.…”

“…However, it is important to use not only phytoextraction or phytostabilization of one particular species, but also to work at the ecosystem level. Appropriate forest ecosystem management can for instance significantly slow down the spread of contamination in the environment by the appropriate species composition with a predominance of species that do not acidify the environment [25]. Similarly, Sha et al [10] state that the use of artificially constructed plant community plots can lead to the enhancement of U-contaminated soil phytoremediation.…”