Analysis of trans-environment transitions of elemental toxicants in linden flowers

Abstract

Introduction. The contamination of heavy metals in medicinal plants is regional and depends on the plant’s antropogenic influence and biological properties. The purpose of the work was to study the trans-environmental transition of elemental toxicants in linden flowers by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with the influence of the Moscow region anthropogenic burden. Materials and methods. One hundred eight samples were used as objects of the research, including soil, leaves and flowers of wild and cultivated linden and broadleaf trees from 36 collection sites with different levels of anthropogenic impact. The transition of elemental toxicants from soil to linden flowers was assessed directly by comparing the gross content of elements in flowers and adjacent soils. The transition of element toxicants from the atmosphere was evaluated indirectly by comparing heavy metals concentration in the linden flowers with their contents in leaves. Results. Despite the significant influence of technogenic factors on the normalized elemental toxicants in flowers of lindens, their permitted concentrations are not exceeded. To assess the trans-environment transitions, the Spearman nonparametric correlation coefficient was calculated between the content of the analyzed elements in the morphological parts of the linden and adjacent soils. It was found that the enrichment of the morphological parts of linden with aluminium, vanadium, chromium, manganese, iron, cobalt, copper, zinc, strontium, molybdenum, barium and lead occurs through the atmosphere; there is a fair correlation between the content of manganese, iron, arsenic, molybdenum and barium in the ground and morphological parts of the plant. Nickel, copper, zinc, cadmium and lead pass from the environment to the morphological parts of the linden insignificantly, mercury is practically not absorbed by the linden. Limitations. The study was conducted in Moscow and the Moscow region during one vegetative period (June 2019). Conclusions. Linden flowers are more concentrators of manganese, copper, strontium, molybdenum, barium than leaves, and they can be used as indicators of atmospheric air pollution with these elemental toxicants.