title: Predicting As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn levels in grasses (Agrostis sp. and Poa sp.) and stinging nettle (Urtica dioica) applying soil-plant transfer models.
abstract: The aim of this study was to derive regression-based soil-plant models to predict and compare metal(loid) (i.e. As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn) concentrations in plants (grass Agrostis sp./Poa sp. and nettle Urtica dioica L.) among sites with a wide range of metal pollution and a wide variation in soil properties. Regression models were based on the pseudo total (aqua-regia) and exchangeable (0.01 M CaCl2) soil metal concentrations. Plant metal concentrations were best explained by the pseudo total soil metal concentrations in combination with soil properties. The most important soil property that influenced U. dioica metal concentrations was the clay content, while for grass organic matter (OM) and pH affected the As (OM) and Cu and Zn (pH). In this study multiple linear regression models proved functional in predicting metal accumulation in plants on a regional scale. With the proposed models based on the pseudo total metal concentration, the percentage of variation explained for the metals As, Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were 0.56%, 0.47%, 0.59%, 0.61%, 0.30% in nettle and 0.46%, 0.38%, 0.27%, 0.50%, 0.28% in grass.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Systemic Physiological and Ecotoxicological Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium. Electronic address: magdalena.boshoff@uantwerpen.be.
authors.forename: Magdalena
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Boshoff
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Systemic Physiological and Ecotoxicological Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: De Jonge
authors.affiliation: Chrono-Environment, UMR 6249 University of Franche-Comté/CNRS Usc INRA, Place Leclerc, F-25030 Besançon Cedex, France.
authors.forename: Renaud
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Scheifler
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Systemic Physiological and Ecotoxicological Research, Department of Biology, University of Antwerp, Groenenborgerlaan 171, 2020 Antwerp, Belgium.
authors.forename: Lieven
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bervoets
mesh_terms: D001151:Arsenic / Q000032:analysis; D004784:Environmental Monitoring; D019216:Metals, Heavy / Q000032:analysis*; D031785:Poa / Q000737:chemistry; D012987:Soil / Q000737:chemistry; D012989:Soil Pollutants / Q000032:analysis*; D013030:Spain; D026982:Urtica dioica / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D019216:Metals, Heavy; D012987:Soil; D012989:Soil Pollutants; D001151:Arsenic
keywords: Aqua-regia; CaCl(2); Soil contamination; Soil properties; Trace metals; Vegetation