In: Phyton, 50 Fasc. 2 (2011), S. 287-300 with 1 figure

Key words: Brassicaceae, Zinc, Lead, Cadmium, Bioaccumulation, Biomonitoring.

Summary

Grabner B., Ribaric-Lasnik C., Romih N., Pfeifhofer H.W. & Batic F. 2011. Bioaccumulation capacity for Pb, Cd and Zn from polluted soil in selected species of the Brassicaceae family growing in different vegetation types. – Phyton (Horn, Austria) 50 (2): 287–300, with 1 figure.

To evaluate the response and the accumulation capacity concerning their possible use for biomonitoring of metal pollution, five species of the Brassicaceae family were chosen as characteristic representatives of common vegetation types: Alliaria petiolata – typical for forest edge vegetation; Capsella bursa-pastoris – typical for the arable land; Diplotaxis tenuifolia – typical for road margins; Biscutella laevigata – typical for closed, permanent grasslands, and Cardamine enneaphyllos – typical for the forest ground layer vegetation. Plants were collected at the beginning of flowering at three different locations in Slovenia: 1.) Vremšcica Mountain (SW part of Slovenia, presumably unpolluted site); 2.) Celje (town in the middle of Slovenia, high contamination with metals due to the zinc industry), and 3.) Žerjav (Karavanke region of northern Slovenia with a century-old tradition of lead and zinc mining and smelting activity). Additionally two hybrids of oil seed rape (Brassica napus L. var. napus) were analyzed, crop plants, sown at differently polluted locations in Celje.

Metal pollution of the soil correlated with the concentration of metals in above-ground plant parts, offering to use these species as biomonitors of metal pollution in different types of natural and semi-natural vegetation. They can be used for monitoring short-term changes in heavy metal polluted arable land and urban areas as well as for monitoring long term heavy metal pollution of forests. None of the plant species of our investigation proved to be a feasible candidate for use in phytoremediation.