Abstract
In 2011, total marine capture landings in Peninsular Malaysia decreased by 3.9% which amounted to 1,373,105 tonnes as compared to 1,428,881 tonnes in 2010. The decline is connected to marine pollution which mainly comes from land based sources. Coastal forests play an important role affecting the marine ecosystem health and need to be conserved as a buffer to minimize pollution input into marine ecosystem. Heath forest, a type of coastal forest that receives less attention compared to mangroves, also has similar role. Melaleuca cajuputi that dominates heath forest has high potential as a phytoremediator of heavy metals and also has high economic values. A greenhouse experiment was conducted to evaluate the potential of this species to extract heavy metals namely Zn and Cd from soil. Four levels of treatment were prepared where the test media was mixed with different amounts of sewage sludge (v/v) namely; T1 (control-soil only), T2 (30% sludge +70% soil), T3 (50% sludge + 50% soil) and T4 (70% sludge + 30% soil). After 90 days of experimental period, the accumulation of Zn was found to be high in the roots (137.19 mg kg-1), followed by the leaves (135.0 mg kg-1) and stems (102.24 mg kg-1). As for Cd the highest concentration was in the roots (2.05 mg kg-1), stems (1.78 mg kg-1) and leaves (1.66 mg kg-1). The species Transfer Factor (TF) values in the greenhouse experiment were > 1 but the Bio-Concentration Factor (BCF) values are≤ 1. This result shows that M. cajuputi is tolerant to Zn and Cd toxicity (low BCF) but able to transfer these elements (high TF) to the shoots for removal by leaf fall or by harvesting the shoots. In addition, the accumulation of Zn and Cd were high in the roots which suggests that Zn and Cd were efficiently immobilized (in the roots) from entering the marine ecosystem.
Highlights
In 2011, the total marine capture landings in Peninsula Malaysia decreased by 3.9% which amounted to 1,373,105 tonnes as compared with 1,428,881 tonnes in 2010 (DOF, 2011)
The control media without sewage sludge added was acidic with pH of 4.94 but when sewage sludge was added to the subsequent treatments the pH increased to 5.63 in treatment T4
The significant difference among the treatment levels was due to high organic materials in the sludge (Amuda et al, 2008) but the differences depends on the age and the origin of the sewage sludge (Soler-Rovira et al, 1996) where in this experiment the differences of nitrogen and carbon were not very large
Summary
In 2011, the total marine capture landings in Peninsula Malaysia decreased by 3.9% which amounted to 1,373,105 tonnes as compared with 1,428,881 tonnes in 2010 (DOF, 2011). One of the reasons of declining marine capture landing might be due to pollution of the marine ecosystem. Most sources of marine pollution are land based such as Corresponding Author: Arifin Abdu, Department of Forest Management, Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia Tel: +603-89467177 Fax: +603-89432514. Coastal forests play an important role in marine ecosystem health and need to be conserved with a new perspective as mitigation from natural hazards such as tsunami and hurricane but as a buffer to minimize pollution input into the marine ecosystem. Mangrove tree is a biochemical reactor that plays an important role in the physiological and biochemical processes including organic matter decomposition (Ramos-e-Silva et al, 2006)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
