Soil metal concentrations and productivity of Betula populifolia (gray birch) as measured by field spectrometry and incremental annual growth in an abandoned urban Brownfield in New Jersey

Effect of metal contamination on microbial enzymatic activity in soil

“…The forest is dominated by Betulla populifolia (gray birch), Populus deltoids (cottonwood) and Populus tremuloides (quaking Aspen). Other significant forest species encountered sporadically include Prunus serotina (black cherry) and Acer rubrum (red maple) (Gallagher et al, 2008). Plant community composition varies very little among the four sites with a slightly higher density of graminoids and herbaceous plants in the understory of some sites that are both of low and high metal load (notably sites 48 and 146, see Section 2.2).…”

“…Those sites tend to have higher soil moisture (Table 1). Contamination caused by rail and industrial use at the site is primarily composed of heavy metals (As, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn, V) (Gallagher et al, 2008) and, in isolated areas, organic pollutants. The organic pollutants have not yet been characterized.…”

Monitoring stress levels on rice with heavy metal pollution from hyperspectral reflectance data using wavelet-fractal analysis

“…It includes variations in absorption features, such as the peak depth and peak area at specific wavebands (van der Meer, 2006;Liu et al, 2010c). (iii) Integrated spectral indices, which combine two or more spectral bands to enhance the vegetative signal while minimizing background effects and are commonly used to measure the sensitivity of vegetation to heavy metal stress Gallagher et al, 2008).…”

A method for the integration of satellite vegetation activities observations and magnetic susceptibility measurements for monitoring heavy metals in soil

“…Several remote sensing studies have documented the drastic vegetation degradation in areas suffering high anthropogenic impact [41,42] and in particular the damages caused by air and soil pollution [43][44][45]. The presence and distribution of air and surface contaminants can often be inferred from their effects on vegetation and this is particularly true in areas where the vegetation is vulnerable [46,47]. High heavy metal concentrations in soils have been usually cited as one of the primary factors limiting vegetation establishment and growth in areas suffering high anthropogenic impact [48].…”