Effects of land use on the heavy metal pollution in mangrove sediments: Study on a whole island scale in Hainan, China

Abstract

In recent decades, mangrove ecosystems at coastal zone are experiencing rapid land-use conversion, however effects of land use on the heavy metal pollution in mangrove sediments still are not clear. This study investigated the concentration and distribution of heavy metals (including chromium (Cr), zinc (Zn), lead (Pb), copper (Cu), arsenic (As) and cadmium (Cd)) in different mangrove sediments with different land-use patterns along seashore of the whole Hainan island (with the third largest mangrove area of China). The effects of land use on the accumulation of heavy metals in these mangrove sediments are also analyzed. The results showed contaminations of ∑6Metals in this study following the order of arable lands (ARAB) > aquaculture ponds (AQUA) > riverine area (RIVER) > ecological area (ECOL) > construction area (CONS). Accumulation degree of As and Cd were high in the AQUA, ARAB, and RIVER area. As metal hotspots, ARAB, RIVER and AQUA area showed the deteriorated sediment quality with high pollution load index (>1). Redundancy discriminate analysis revealed that mangrove, paddy lands and aquaculture ponds related activities correlated well with the metal pollution. The results clearly revealed that different land uses would not only change the accumulation capacity of mangrove soil for heavy metals, but also contribute different sources of heavy metal pollution. These findings do help to facilitate land-use planning and contribute to guide a better mangrove wetland management at coastal zone.