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Effect of a metal mixture on cadmium accumulation in transplanted macrophytes

Conference ·
OSTI ID:197531
 [1]
  1. Univ. of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba (Canada). Freshwater Inst.
The effect of a metal mixture (Cu, Zn, Pb and Ni) on Cd accumulation in the freshwater macrophyte Eriocaulon septangulare, was examined in a mesocosm experiment at the Experimental Lakes Area, northwestern, Ontario. Cd was added alone to treatment 1 and together with the metal mixture (at three increasing levels) to treatments 2, 3, and 4. Each treatment was represented by two mesocosms. Macrophytes were collected from the littoral region of lake 104, transported to nearby Roddy lake, and planted in plastic gardening trays containing exposed limnocorral sediments. The trays were lowered to the bottom of the limnocorrals and after 40 and 80 days the macrophytes were analyzed for metal content. The transplanted macrophytes accumulated Cd in both their shoots and roots. On day 40, Cd levels in the shoots of macrophytes exposed to the highest level of metal mixture were lower than in shoots from macrophytes exposed to cadmium alone, Between day 40 to day 80 Cd was lost from the shoots of macrophytes in all treatments. Cd levels in roots were higher in macrophytes exposed to the metal mixture on day 40 and significantly higher on day 80 compared to exposure to Cd alone. Elevated Cd levels in the roots of macrophytes exposed to the metal mixture reflected higher Cd levels in the water. The macrophyte Eriocaulon shows promise in environmental monitoring where test species are transplanted.
OSTI ID:
197531
Report Number(s):
CONF-9511137--; ISBN 1-880611-03-1
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English