Theoretical research on evolution of health of plants affected by heavy metal absorption process

Abstract

Abstract. The paper presents a modified version of the mathematical model of the heavy metal transfer process. The changes start from the beliefs of the authors that the factors that govern the plant's evolution (germination, growth and vegetative development, senescence and death) are environmental factors (structure and chemical composition of soil and air, their humidity, soil pH, lighting, applied fertilization, meteorological events, etc.) and not the time. Time is an artificial parameter introduced to provide a simpler reporting of dynamic processes. We do not know if time has simplified, or if it kept the truth in reporting the results, but it is the most common parameter used for this purpose. Of the influential factors, only the temperature and the concentration of heavy metal ions in the soil are considered in this article. The paper presents simulations using minimal experimental data, model constants being obtained by calibration. Effects of increasing delay and triggering of the biomass descending process were achieved (phytoremediation also). The experiments required to increase the performance of the model, the theoretical and practical efficiency of such attempts are estimated. These appreciations allow readers to reflect, to try to estimate the theoretical and practical efficiency of such attempts.Keywords: plants, bioaccumulation, disease, models, simulation. IntroductionThe paper presents a modified version of the mathematical model of the heavy metal transfer process developed in [1] and [2]. Mathematical models of heavy metal bioaccumulation are often simplified as much as possible to make them more intuitive, but also because the simple model requires less experimental data. The process of bioaccumulation of heavy metals in plants is a very complex one, which influences the physiological processes: feeding, development, quantity and quality of accumulated biomass, life span, etc. For these reasons, in this paper we have opted for a slightly more complex bioaccumulation model than, for example, in [3]. In turn, this model has been modified by introducing the influence factors that reflect the impact of the environmental factors to the plant life. This approach is in line with the authors' belief that time is not the parameter that makes the plant to evolve, but the effective control factors for the system: temperature, illumination, soil pH or development environment, environmental conductivity, rainfall regime, fertilization, etc. The environmental or management command factors can be expressed through a product with the role of introducing energy into the plant's bio-system, in various forms, energy harnessed by the plant by growth, generally by evolution (vegetative development). Besides these factors, there are other environmental factors that also provide energy elements that are likely to be unsuitable for the biosystem and which lead to nutritional deficiencies leading to slowing growth, various diseases, etc.The mathematical modelling of bioaccumulation of heavy metals aims both to k...

General Tendencies of the Behaviour of Vegetables Developed in a Soil Contaminated with Heavy Metals

“…Attempts to achieve original results in this domain are related in particular to changing the viewpoint on experimental activity, to see plants as entities that have a much longer life than what most people know. Plants live far beyond the vegetation cycle, and the general phenomena in the plant during lifetime after the end of the vegetation cycle are extremely interesting both for the study of life itself and for the particular problem of heavy metal accumulation [1].…”

“…Numerous experiments are described in the literature [2][3][4]. This literature dedicated to modeling and accumulation of heavy metals defines a satisfactory framework for obtaining immediate results [1,5].…”

Mathematical Model to Simulate the Transfer of Heavy Metals from Soil to Plant

“…Over the last 20 years, mathematical modeling has become a common topic in the studies on the accumulation of heavy metals in plants [1,5,9,[45][46][47][48][49][50][51][52].…”

“…The models in this paper aim at the further development of the growth models according to the influencing and bioaccumulation factors shown in studies [47][48][49]60]. Compared to the original model [50,61,62], study [49] introduced the influence of temperature. The method used to develop the original model can also be used to introduce the dependence on light, water availability and genetic factors, which influence the bioaccumulation and plant growth.…”

“…The main purpose of this model is to simulate the dependence of temperature, bioaccumulation and the reaction of plants to heavy metal ions in the soil, a factor that depends on the concentration of heavy metals. Taking into account the models presented in this paper, and following the same working method as that in study [47], different mathematical models can be developed, which contain the most important or all the factors involved in the growth, vegetative evolution, aging and death of plants [49]. In this paper, we developed the exposition of the model from [49] and the presented results imply a better understanding of the model and the construction method.…”