A 10-Year Ecological Monitoring of Soils and Triticum aestivum in the Impact Zone of a Power Station

Abstract

Based on 10 years of environmental monitoring located around the emission zone of an electricity supplier, the main regularities have been studied for the content of heavy metals (HMs), such as Pb, Cd, Zn, Cu, Ni, Mn, and Cr, and 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the soils of agricultural landscapes and their accumulation in Triticum aestivum. It has been shown that one of the most significant factors for the pollutants accumulation in soils and plants was the prevailing wind direction on the territory and atmospheric transfer of the dust particles of the enterprise with adsorbed pollutants. As the content of pollutants in the soil increased, their accumulation in Triticum aestivum increased with each season to a level exceeding maximum permissible concentrations (MPC), especially for Pb, Cd, and benzo[a]pyrene (BaP). The unambiguous influx of pollutants from the soil into the roots and further into the aboveground organs of the plant was typical only for Mn, Cr, and BaP, and the accumulation of other studied pollutants can be explained by their foliar influx. It has been established that Triticum aestivum was a more tolerant plant with respect to heavy metals pollution than PAHs.